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STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

BORN:  OCTOBER  2 7, 1858 
DIED  .-JANUARY' 6,  1919 


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O  UNDCRWOOD  •  UNDERWOOO 

^tat0  af  ^0ut  ^ork 


A   Memorial 


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Elf^ahtivt  ^00s^u^lt 


AutI|or!z^ti  by  tl?0  Sl^stalatur^ 
February  S^uipntg-ffrBt,  Nfnct^^n  2fun!irpli  Nmcf^^n 


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J.  B.  Lyon  Company,  Printers^  1919 


THEODORE   ROOSEVELT 

A  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 

WHEN  Theodore  Roosevelt  passed  away  January 
6,  1919,  he  was  sixty  years  and  about  two 
months  old.  Nearly  forty  years  of  that  time 
had  been  spent  actively  and  vigorously  in  the  public 
service.  He  unquestionably  was  one  of  the  great  Ameri- 
cans of  his  time.  He  won  international  fame  as  a  states- 
man and  was  known  throughout  the  world  for  his 
unusual  versatility  in  politics,  literature  and  science. 
As  an  author  he  early  attracted  attention  and  his  rare 
faculty  of  leadership  and  achievement  in  public  affairs 
impressed  itself  upon  his  fellow  citizens  throughout  a 
busy  career. 

Unlike  many  Americans  who  have  won  distinction, 
Mr.  Roosevelt  was  not  bom  in  humble  circumstances. 
His  parents  were  among  the  well-to-do  in  New  York 
city,  his  native  place.  His  career  was  all  the  more  won- 
derful because  in  early  youth  he  was  far  from  being 
robust.  A  fervent  desire  to  serve  the  common  people 
was  not  inspired  by  his  early  environment  because  his 
associations  were  those  of  the  wealthy  and  not  of  the 
more  humble  folk  with  whom  he  delighted  to  mingle  and 
to  serve. 

He  was  bom  in  New  York  city  October  27,  1858. 
On  his  father's  side,  whose  mother  was  of  Irish  descent, 
he  was  also  descended  from  a  Dutch  immigrant  of  the 

5 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

seventeenth  century.  His  progenitors  were  nearly  all 
New  Yorkers.  Although  prominent  at  all  times  in  the 
commercial  and  social  life  of  the  city,  there  is  no  record 
of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  Dutch  progenitors  in  New  York  city 
having  achieved  distinction  in  public  ofhce. 

Theodore  Roosevelt's  father  was  Theodore  Roose- 
velt, son  of  Cornelius  Van  Schaick  Roosevelt,  and  the 
family  line  goes  back  to  medieval  times  in  Dutch  history. 
His  mother  was  Miss  Bullock  of  Georgia,  daughter  of 
James  Dunwoodie  Bullock,  one  of  a  family  whose  founder 
came  to  this  country  from  Scotland  in  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Her  great-grandfather  was  the 
first  Revolutionary  Governor  of  the  State,  and  her 
brother  fired  the  last  shot  from  the  Alabama  as  she 
sunk  off  Cherbourg  imder  the  guns  of  the  old  Kearsarge. 
Governor  Roosevelt's  early  education  was  received  at 
Cutler's  private  school,  a  famous  institution  in  New 
York.  He  entered  Harvard  at  the  age  when  young  men 
are  supposed  to  enter  upon  college  life.  At  Cambridge 
he  studied  hard  and  took  an  unceasing  interest  in  philos- 
ophy, history  and  government.  The  foundation  for  his 
literary  career  was  laid  there.  He  began  by  writing 
for  the  Harvard  Advocate  of  which  he  became  editor. 
Mr.  Roosevelt  did  not  spend  all  his  time  in  his  studies. 
He  entered  heartily  into  all  the  college  sports;  he  sprinted, 
wrestled,  sparred  and  played  polo.  In  his  youth  he  was 
sickly  and  '*  pigeon-chested,"  and  he  therefore  regarded 
it  as  one  of  his  first  duties  to  make  himself  physically 
strong. 

6 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

"I  made  my  health  what  it  is,'*  he  said.  "I  deter- 
mined to  be  strong  and  well  and  did  everything  to  make 
myself  so.  I  wrestled  and  sparred  a  great  deal  at  col- 
lege, and  though  I  never  came  in  first  I  got  more  out 
of  the  exercise  than  those  who  did,  because  I  enjoyed 
and  never  injured  myself.  I  was  very  fond  of  wrestling 
and  boxing.  I  think  I  was  a  good  deal  of  a  wrestler, 
and  though  I  never  won  a  championship,  yet  more  than 
once  I  won  my  trial  heats  and  got  into  the  final  heat. 
I  was  captain  of  my  polo  team  at  one  time,  but  since 
I  left  college  I  have  taken  most  of  my  exercise  in  the 
*  cow  country '   or  hunting  game  in  the  mountains." 

He  especially  excelled  as  a  boxer  when  at  Harvard, 
and  was  the  champion  light-weight  boxer  in  that  college, 
and  was  always  ready  to  "  put  on  the  gloves  "  with  any 
other  fellow  student. 

After  his  graduation  from  Harvard,  Mr.  Roosevelt 
made  a  trip  to  Europe.  This  was  in  1880.  There,  not 
content  with  "doing"  the  continent  in  the  orthodox 
way,  he  roughed  it,  ascending  the  Jungfrau  and  Matter- 
horn,  tramped  through  the  country  districts  of  Germany 
and  became  tolerably  familiar  with  peasant  life. 

Upon  his  return  to  the  United  States  he  resolved, 
if  possible,  to  become  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  and 
began  taking  an  active  part  in  political  work,  as  a 
Republican,  in  his  assembly  district,  the  twenty-first  of 
New  York  city.  He  quickly  became  a  leader,  and 
finally,  in  1881,  was  nominated  for  the  Assembly  by  the 
Republican  party  in  the  twenty-first  district  and  was 
elected  over  his  Democratic  opponent  to  the  Assembly 
of  1882.    He  put  Mmself  at  the  head  of  a  body  of 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

assemblymen,  Republicans  and  Democrats,  who  were 
resolved  that  there  should  be  reformation  in  some  of  the 
evils  from  which  the  government  of  New  York  State  was 
suffering.  Bill  after  bill  was  offered  for  this  purpose, 
some  of  which  received  the  approval  of  the  Legislature 
and  some  did  not.  Speaker  Patterson  named  him  as 
a  member  of  the  committee  on  cities  and  he  rendered 
great  services  to  his  constituency  in  that  position. 

In  1883  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  once  more  an  assembly- 
man; Alfred  C.  Chapin,  Democrat,  was  speaker.  Mr. 
Roosevelt  was  placed  second  on  the  cities  committee 
by  the  Democratic  speaker.  During  this  session  of  the 
Legislature,  Grover  Cleveland,  Democrat,  was  governor. 
It  was  here  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  first  met  Mr.  Cleveland. 
A  vigorous  effort  was  made  to  secure  the  passage  of 
a  five-cent  fare  bill  on  the  elevated  railroads  of  New 
York  city.  The  bill  passed.  To  the  amazement  of 
everybody.  Governor  Cleveland  vetoed  it.  When  the 
veto  was  presented  in  the  Assembly,  Mr.  Roosevelt, 
then  24  years  old,  made  this  remarkable  speech: 

"  I  have  to  say  with  shame  that  when  I  voted  for  this 
bill,  I  did  not  act  as  I  ought  to  have  acted,  and  as 
I  generally  have  acted  on  the  floor  of  this  house,  for 
the  only  time  that  I  ever  voted  here,  aside  from  what 
I  think  to  be  exactly  right,  I  did  that  time.  I  have  to 
confess  that  I  weakly  yielded  to  a  vindictive  spirit  toward 
the  infernal  thieves  who  have  that  railroad  in  charge, 
and  to  the  voice  of  New  York.  For  the  managers  of  the 
elevated  railroads  I  have  as  little  feeling  as  any  man  here, 
and  if  it  were  possible  I  would  be  willing  to  pass  a  bill 
of  attainder  against  the  officials  of  that  road.     I  realize 

8 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

that  they  have  done  the  most  incalculable  harm  to  this 
community  —  with  their  hired  newspaper,  with  their 
corruption  of  the  judiciary  and  with  their  corruption  of 
this  house.  Nevertheless,  I  think  that  we  ought  never 
to  have  passed  this  bill  in  the  beginning,  and  that  we 
ought  never  to  pass  it  over  the  veto  now,  and  certainly 
not  imtil  we  have  had  a  fair  chance  to  look  at  it  purely 
in  the  light  of  reason.  I  question  if  the  bill  is  con- 
stitutional, and  if  the  bill  is  constitutional,  I  think  it  is, 
in  any  event,  breaking  the  plighted  faith  of  the  State. 
It  isn't  a  question  of  doing  right  to  them,  for  they  are 
merely  common  thieves.  As  to  the  resolution  —  a  peti- 
tion handed  by  the  directors  of  the  company  —  I  would 
pay  more  attention  to  a  petition  signed  by  Barney  Arron, 
Owney  Geoghagan  or  Billy  McGlory  than  I  would  pay 
to  that  paper,  because  I  regard  these  men  as  a  part  of 
an  infinitely  dangerous  order  of  men  —  the  wealthy 
criminal  class." 

This  speech  caused  considerable  amazement,  and 
numerous  members  arose  denoimcing  Mr.  Roosevelt's 
allusion  to  corruption  in  the  house. 

Some  days  after  this  speech  Mr.  Roosevelt  introduced 
a  resolution  annulling  the  charter  of  the  Manhattan 
railroad;  but  it  failed  to  pass. 

The  Assembly  of  1884  was  Republican.  Mr.  Roose- 
velt was  again  a  member;  Titus  Sheard  of  Herkimer, 
Republican,  was  the  speaker.  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  committee  on  cities,  and  he  at  this 
time  secured  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  investi- 
gate the  affairs  of  the  government  of  New  York  city. 
A  special  committee  was  appointed,  Mr.  Roosevelt  being 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

appointed  chairman.  One  of  the  results  of  the  investi- 
gation was  the  presentation  of  a  bill  taking  away  from 
the  aldermen  of  New  York  the  confirmatory  power  of 
appointments  made  by  the  mayor.  During  a  prolonged 
and  fierce  conflict  over  this  bill,  Mr.  Roosevelt  made 
many  characteristic,  speeches.  In  one  of  them  he  said: 
**  Nobody  supposes  for  a  moment  that  the  aldermen  act 
for  themselves,  and  although  I  would  not  say  it  would  be 
well  for  the  city,  it  would  be  no  worse  for  the  city  if  they 
did  act  for  themselves,  but  they  are  confessedly  simply 
the  tools  of  men  who  stand  behind  them.  They  have 
nothing  to  do  but  register  the  decrees  that  those  in 
authority  over  them  choose  to  issue.  Since  the  beginning 
of  this  session  we  have  seen  the  consummation  of  one  of 
the  most  disgraceful  deals  that  has  ever  disgraced  even 
the  board  of  aldermen.  I  regret  to  say  four  of  the 
aldermen,  nominally  of  the  party  to  which  I  belong, 
deliberately  sold  their  votes.  These  four  aldermen  never 
should  have  the  slightest  right  to  take  part  in  the 
proceedings  of  any  Republican  primary.  They  have 
made  themselves  Democrats  for  hire.  We  complain  very 
loudly  about  a  poor  man  who  sells  his  vote  for  a  dollar 
or  two;  but  what  should  we  say  of  a  man  who  sells  his 
vote  for  a  chairmanship  of  one  committee  or  for  the  sake  of 
two  or  three  places,  for  a  clerkship,  for  instance?  I  think 
the  so-called  respectable  people  of  New  York  have  many 
of  the  gravest  political  sins  on  their  shoulders.  They 
are  responsible  for  most  of  our  bad  government.  The 
better  people  of  New  York  are  responsible  for  having 
let  the  rogues  have  their  way." 

The  report  made  by  Mr.  Roosevelt's  committee  as  to 

10 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  offices  of  the  county  clerk, 
the  register,  the  surrogate  and  the  sheriff's  offices  in 
New  York,  disclosed  evils  which  led  him  to  introduce 
reformatory  bills  in  regard  to  them  all.  In  three  bills 
introduced  by  him  it  was  proposed  to  make  the  county 
clerk,  the  register  and  the  sheriff  salaried  officials  and 
to  turn  over  their  fees  to  the  city  of  New  York.  Two  of 
these  bills  were  passed  by  the  Legislature  and  signed  by 
Governor  Cleveland,  and  have  since  been  laws  of  the 
State. 

The  same  year,  1884,  the  Assembly  was  asked  to 
pass  a  general  railroad  act,  tinder  which  it  was  proposed 
to  build  a  street  railway  in  Broadway,  New  York.  It 
was  opposed  by  a  corporation  which  wished  to  gridiron 
the  city  with  cable  railroads.  When  Mr.  Roosevelt  came 
to  vote  upon  the  bill,  he  said: 

"  Everyone  who  knows  anything  about  the  legislation 
knows  that  the  presence  of  certain  men  who  have  been 
around  this  chamber  for  the  last  few  days,  for  and  against 
the  measure,  bodes  no  good  for  honest  and  efficient 
legislation."  He  said,  **  he  stood  between  the  devil  and 
the  deep  sea.  That  it  was  a  case  of  that  he  would  be 
damned  if  he  did  and  damned  if  he  did  not.  If  he  voted 
for  the  bill  he  would  be  accused  of  corrupt  motives,  and 
if  he  voted  against  it  the  same  charge  would  be  made." 
He  asked  to  be  excused  from  voting,  but  this  being 
denied  him,  he  voted  against  the  bill. 

In  1884  Mr.  Roosevelt  also  entered  national  politics. 

He  advocated  the  nomination  of  George  F.  Edmunds  for 

president,  and  was  elected  one  of  New  York's  delegates- 

at-large  to  the  Republican  national  convention  of  that 

11 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

year,  leading  the  delegation.    At  the  convention  he  was 
a  notable  figure. 

Retiring  from  public  life  for  a  time  in  1884,  Mr. 
Roosevelt  bought  a  ranch  in  western  Dakota,  near 
Medera,  on  the  Little  Missouri  river.  It  was  not  his  first 
visit  to  this  part  of  the  United  States.  He  went  west  at 
a  time  when  the  last  of  the  buffalo  were  going  down  before 
the  "  big  hunts."  The  winters  he  passed  in  the  Legis- 
lature, and  at  the  beginning  of  the  long  summers  he 
migrated  to  the  "  Bad  Lands  *'  and  shot  elk,  deer, 
buffalo  and  antelope.  He  made  two  hunting  trips,  one 
in  1883,  the  last  big  hunt  near  Butte,  when  the  whites 
and  Sioux  from  Standing  Rock  and  Pine  Ridge  were 
doing  the  killing.  Mr.  Roosevelt  started  his  cattle  ranch 
in  1884,  and  from  1884  until  he  was  appointed  civil 
service  commissioner  he  passed  all  his  summers  in  the 
west  and  his  winters  in  New  York. 

"  I  was  never  happier  in  my  life,"  he  said  afterward. 
"  My  house  out  there  is  a  long,  low  house  of  hewn  logs, 
which  I  helped  to  build  myself.  It  has  a  broad  veranda 
and  rocking  chairs  and  a  big  fireplace,  and  elk  skins  and 
wolf  skins  scattered  about  —  on  the  brink  of  the  Little 
Missouri,  right  in  a  clump  of  cottonwoods;  and  less  than 
three  years  ago  I  shot  a  deer  from  the  veranda." 

It  was  there  in  the  west,  where  he  mingled  with  the 
cowboys  and  saw  nature  in  all  its  simplicity,  that  Mr. 
Roosevelt  got  his  inspiration  for  several  of  the  works 
that  have  since  come  from  his  pen.  In  his  book  called 
"  Ranch  Life  and  the  Hunting  Trail,"  he  describes  most 
interestingly  the  adventurous  life  he  led  as  a  ranchman 
and  hunter. 

12 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

In  1886  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  nominated  by  the 
Republicans,  although  only  twenty-eight  years  old,  as 
their  candidate  for  mayor  of  New  York  city.  Abram  S. 
Hewitt  was  the  Democratic  nominee  and  Henry  George 
was  the  candidate  on  the  Labor  and  Independent  ticket. 
Mr.  Hewitt  was  elected,  Mr.  George  was  second  in  the 
race  and  Mr.  Roosevelt  third. 

In  1889  President  Benjamin  A.  Harrison  appointed 
Mr.  Roosevelt  a  civil  service  commissioner,  and  he 
acted  in  that  capacity  for  six  years,  from  May,  1889,  to 
May,  1895,  which  included  the  administration  of  President 
Harrison  and  the  second  one  of  Grover  Cleveland. 
During  his  term  the  merit  system  was  extended  for  many 
departments  and  employees  of  the  Federal  service,  due 
largely  to  the  earnestness  and  enthusiasm  of  Commissioner 
Roosevelt. 

Upon  his  retirement  from  the  civil  service  com- 
mission. Mayor  Strong  of  New  York  city  appointed  him 
a  member  of  the  board  of  police  of  New  York.  In  this 
office,  as  in  all  of  the  others  which  he  held,  he  made  for 
himself  a  reputation  for  thoroughness  and  efficiency. 
His  aim  was  to  elevate  the  police  department  to  a  higher 
standard;  to  enforce  the  laws  against  gambling  and  to 
suppress  disreputable  resorts. 

Governor  William  McKinley  of  Ohio  was  elected 
president  of  the  United  States  in  1896.  Mr.  Roosevelt 
was  urged  by  some  of  his  friends  as  a  man  well  qualified 
to  be  secretary  of  the  navy,  but  Mr.  McKinley  had  already 
promised  the  place  to  John  D.  Long  of  Massachusetts, 
and  finally  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  appointed  assistant 
secretary. 

13 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

One  of  the  achievements  of  Assistant  Secretary- 
Roosevelt  was  the  fitting  out  of  Admiral  George  Dewey's 
squadron  of  ships  just  after  he  had  been  ordered  to 
Manila  Bay,  on  the  Philadelphia.  The  great  victory  of 
Dewey  over  the  Spaniards  in  the  spring  of  1898  was  due 
in  no  small  measure  to  the  foresight  of  this  act  of  the 
assistant  secretary  of  the  navy. 

The  beginning  of  the  Spanish  War  of  1898  found 
Mr.  Roosevelt  still  assistant  secretary  of  the  navy,  but 
he  resolved  to  resign  his  position  and  enter  the  United 
States  Army.  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  later  referring  to 
this  period  in  Mr.  Roosevelt's  life,  said:  "The  wife  of 
a  cabinet  officer  told  me  that  when  Assistant  Secretary 
Roosevelt  announced  that  he  had  determined  to  resign 
and  raise  a  regiment  for  the  war,  some  of  the  ladies 
in  the  administration  circle  thought  it  their  duty  to 
remonstrate  with  him.  They  said:  *Mr.  Roosevelt 
you  have  six  children,  the  youngest  a  few  months  old 
and  the  eldest  not  yet  in  the  teens.  While  the  country 
is  full  of  young  men  who  have  no  such  responsibilities 
and  are  eager  to  enlist,  you  have  no  right  to  leave  the 
burden  upon  your  wife  of  the  care,  support  and  bring- 
ing up  of  that  family.*  Roosevelt's  answer  was  a  Roose- 
velt answer:  *  I  have  done  as  much  as  any  one  to 
bring  on  this  war,  because  I  believed  it  must  come,  and 
the  sooner  the  better,  and  now  that  the  war  is  declared, 
I  have  no  right  to  ask  others  to  do  the  fighting  and  stay 
at  home  myself.'  " 

Mr.  Roosevelt  raised  a  regiment  of  cavalry  of  rough 
riders;  instead  of  heading  the  regiment  himself,  he  asked 
President   McKinley    to    appoint   his   personal    friend, 

14 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

Dr.  Leonard  Wood,  a  West  Point  graduate,  as  colonel, 
while  he  asked  for  himself  the  office  of  lieutenant-colonel. 

The  regiment  was  raised  at  San  Antonio,  Texas,  from 
among  the  mining  prospectors,  cowboys  and  hunters  of 
the  southwest.  They  were  the  hardy  men  of  the  plains, 
accustomed  to  living  in  the  open  air  and  skilled  in  the 
use  of  the  rifle.  Roosevelt  added  to  the  regiment  some 
college  men  who  had  won  laurels  in  the  athletic  fields. 

The  first  fight  that  Colonel  Roosevelt  and  his 
exceptional  regiment  were  engaged  in  was  at  La  Guasimas, 
near  Santiago,  where  the  first  gims  for  Cuba's  freedom 
were  fired.  It  was  on  the  afternoon  of  June  23  when 
General  Wheeler,  who  was  in  command  of  the  troops 
ashore,  was  notified  that  the  enemy  was  entrenched  at 
La  Guasimas,  cutting  off  all  connection  with  Santiago. 
At  Siboney,  which  the  Rough  Riders  had  reached  by 
making  forced  marches  at  night,  it  was  determined  to 
make  the  attack  on  the  following  morning.  That  night 
was  a  restless  one  for  the  Rough  Riders.  At  five  o'clock 
in  the  morning  they  made  the  ascent  of  the  steep  ridge 
above  Siboney,  and  started  toward  the  rendezvous  on 
the  trail  to  the  west.  As  they  were  dismounted  and 
heavily  burdened  with  blankets,  robes,  haversacks, 
ammunition  and  carbines,  the  march  under  the  hot  sun 
was  slow  and  painful.  It  was  not  long  before  Colonel 
Wood  of  the  Rough  Riders,  returning  from  a  trip  down 
the  trail  to  meet  Captain  Capron  of  the  artillery,  passed 
the  word  back  to  Roosevelt  to  keep  silence  in  the  ranks. 
A  halt  was  made  at  a  place  flanked  on  one  side  by  a  barb- 
wire  fence  and  on  the  other  by  fields  of  high  grass,  under- 
growth and  tangled  trees,  which  were  almost  impenetrable. 

15 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

After  reconnoitering,  Colonel  Wood  returned  and 
began  deploying  his  troops  out  at  either  side  of  the  trail. 
Capron  was  sent  on  ahead  and  the  other  troops  stationed 
to  good  advantage.  They  took  their  position  none  too 
soon,  for  the  enemy  began  firing  immediately.  The 
Rough  Riders  fought  their  way  through  the  bushes  in  the 
direction  from  which  the  volleys  came;  it  was  a  tremendous 
task,  for  the  thicket  was  very  dense.  They  soon  broke 
through  into  a  little  open  space  and  the  men  fell  on  one 
knee  and  began  firing  rapidly  into  the  space  where  they 
supposed  the  Spaniards  were  concealed.  The  enemy's 
fire  was  hot  and  not  more  than  fifty  to  eighty  yards  away. 
The  Rough  Riders  were  forced  to  lie  flat  in  the  grass  and 
in  the  hottest  of  the  fight  Colonel  Roosevelt  ran  up  and 
lay  down  beside  Captain  Llewylan  of  Troop  G,  and 
eagerly  talked  with  him.  Roosevelt  pointed  out  that  it 
was  impossible  to  go  any  further  on  accoimt  of  the 
underwood  of  wild  grapevines  that  screened  the  Spaniards. 
He  advised  that  the  men  cross  the  trail  and  move  to 
the  left.  Meanwhile  the  firing  of  the  enemy  was  fast 
and  accurate,  for  in  three  minutes'  time  nine  men  were 
disabled.  The  Riders  went  slowly  to  the  left,  and  as  the 
aim  of  the  enemy  was  low  they  were  compelled  to  move 
on  their  knees  and  crawl  on  their  stomachs.  After  an 
hour's  fighting  the  American  line  had  reached  a  more 
open  country.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Roosevelt  moved  his 
men  with  the  intention  of  taking  an  old  distillery  occupied 
by  the  enemy  and  a  short  distance  from  them.  The 
advance  was  made  by  short  rushes,  the  men  firing  as 
they  ran.  Roosevelt  and  his  men  showed  the  stuff  they 
were  made  of  during  this  manoeuvre.    Bullets  whizzed 

16 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

close  to  them,  so  close  in  several  instances  that  they  left 
a  scar  on  the  soldier's  skin.  One  bullet  struck  a  tree 
next  to  Colonel  Roosevelt,  scattered  and  filled  his  eyes 
and  ears  with  the  tiny  splinters.  Finally  the  firing  from 
the  enemy  became  less  fierce,  and  Roosevelt,  who  had 
picked  up  a  carbine  which  he  fired  occasionally  to  give 
directions  to  the  others,  decided  to  make  a  charge.  The 
men  broke  out  of  the  bushes  behind  the  trees,  cheering 
wildly,  and  were  met  by  volley  after  volley  from  the 
enemy,  but  they  rushed  on,  cheering.  This  extra- 
ordinary exhibition  of  courage  so  dismayed  the  Spaniards 
that  they  hurriedly  retreated  upon  Santiago.  In  all, 
there  were  534  Rough  Riders,  and  these  men  succeeded 
in  dispersing  four  times  their  own  number  of  the  enemy 
entrenched  safely  behind  rifle  pits  and  bushes.  This 
fight  of  the  Rough  Riders  will  go  down  in  history  as 
being  one  of  the  most  daring  exhibitions  of  bravery  that 
is  recorded. 

The  taking  of  San  Juan  Hill  and  the  part  played  in 
that  memorable  engagement  by  the  Rough  Riders  will 
live  in  history  long  after  those  who  participated  in  it 
have  gone  to  their  final  resting-place. 

After  leaving  La  Guasimas,  Colonel  Roosevelt  said 
in  his  speech  to  his  fellow  citizens  at  Oyster  Bay,  on 
returning  from  Cuba,  **  We  moved  up  to  Santiago,  and 
camped  on  a  hillside  with  a  ridge  in  front  of  us.  At  dawn 
our  artillery  got  on  that  ridge  and  opened  fire.  That 
was  fine  music  to  us,  but  pretty  soon  the  Spaniards 
began  to  reply,  and  instead  of  dislodging  our  artillery 
they  shot  over  it,  and  the  shrapnel  came  at  us.  Of 
course,  they  didn't  mean  to  hit  us,  because  they  couldn't 

17 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

see  us,  but  that  was  like  the  Spaniards.  Well,  while 
Generals  Lawton  and  Chaffee  were  pounding  away  at 
El  Caney  we  were  ordered  to  take  the  blockhouses  on 
the  hills.  We  went  through  the  jungle  in  a  hurry,  forded 
the  river  and  were  then  halted  for  an  hour  under  heavy 
fire.  I  see  by  the  papers  that  there  has  been  some  talk 
as  to  whether  we  took  San  Juan  Hill  or  not.  I  don't 
know  whether  we  did.  We  didn't  stop  to  ask  the  name 
of  the  hill  —  we  just  took  it. 

"  The  most  trying  part  of  it  all  was  that  wait,  though, 
for  the  men  were  being  shot  down  like  sheep.  I  recollect 
giving  an  order  to  an  orderly.  He  rose  and  saluted,  then 
fell  dead  across  my  knees.  I  saw  Captain  Buck  O'Neill 
walking  up  and  down  in  front  of  his  men.  One  of  them 
said:  *  Lie  down,  Captain;  you'll  be  hit.'  He  laughed 
and  said:  '  The  Spanish  bullet  has  not  been  made  that 
can  kill  me.'  The  next  minute  he  fell  dead,  a  bullet 
hole  through  the  head.  He  was  a  man  of  absolute 
courage,  and  one  of  the  finest  soldiers  and  men  I  ever 
have  known. 

"  We  finally  got  our  orders  to  go  ahead,  and  then 
began  my  crowded  hour  of  glorious  life,  an  hour  I  wouldn't 
exchange  for  all  the  rest  of  my  life.  It  is  pleasant  to 
remember  how  the  men  behaved  that  day.  I  saw 
thirteen  wounded  men  refuse  to  go  to  the  rear,  and 
I  recall  a  new  Mexican  cow-puncher  who  was  shot  in  the 
side,  and  whom  I  ordered  to  the  hospital  myself.  Twenty 
minutes  later  he  was  at  the  front  rank  fighting  again. 
After  the  fight  he  went  to  the  hospital  and  had  his  wound 
dressed.  While  lying  on  a  cot  he  heard  the  surgeon  say 
that  he  was  to  be  shipped  home.    That  night  he  jumped 

18 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

out  of  the  hospital  window  and  came  back  to  camp. 
He  fought  with  the  regiment  from  then  on." 

Upon  his  return  to  the  United  States  and  while 
still  in  camp  with  his  regiment  at  Montauk  Point,  Long 
Island,  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  nominated  for  governor  of 
New  York  State.  He  was  nominated  at  the  Republican 
State  convention  and  elected  over  Judge  Augustus  Van 
Wyck  the  Democratic  candidate  by  a  plurality  of  17,794. 

While  serving  his  second  year  as  governor,  Mr. 
Roosevelt  was  nominated,  against  his  will,  for  vice- 
president  with  President  McKinley,  at  the  Philadelphia 
convention.  It  has  always  been  stated  by  some  of  his 
friends  that  this  nomination  was  intended  to  ''  shelve  " 
him  politically.  The  following  year,  1901,  President 
McKinley  was  assassinated  at  the  Pan-American  expo- 
sition, Buffalo,  and  Mr.  Roosevelt  succeeded  to  the 
presidency.  At  the  conclusion  of  that  term,  1904,  he 
was  nominated  and  elected  president  by  the  largest 
majority  every  given  to  a  candidate  in  any  presidential 
election. 

Largely  through  his  influence  William  H.  Taft  was 
nominated  and  elected  to  succeed  him  in  1908.  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  on  account  of  serious  difficulties  with  Presi- 
dent Taft  refused  to  support  him  for  renomination  and 
election.  After  failing  to  receive  the  Republican  nomi- 
nation himself  at  the  Chicago  convention  in  1912,  he 
was  nominated  for  the  office  by  the  Progressive  conven- 
tion. This  split  in  the  Republican  party  resulted  in  the 
election  of  Woodrow  Wilson,  the  Democratic  candidate. 

In  1916  Roosevelt  was  again  a  candidate  for  presi- 
dent in  the  Republican  convention.     When  Charles  E. 

19 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

Hughes  was  made  the  nominee  he  declined  to  be  a  can- 
didate on  the  Progressive  ticket  and  supported  Mr. 
Hughes. 

Charles  Willis  Thompson  of  the  editorial  staff  of  the 
New  York  Times  and  for  many  years  a  correspondent 
for  New  York  city  dailies  at  Washington,  was  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  Colonel  Roosevelt.  Few  newspapermen 
have  followed  Mr.  Roosevelt's  career  so  closely  as  Mr. 
Thompson.  From  time  to  time  he  has  written  of  inter- 
esting incidents  which  came  to  his  knowledge  of  the 
Colonel's  sayings  and  doings.  Since  his  death,  Mr. 
Thompson  has  related  some  of  these  incidents  in  the 
Times,    One  of  them  he  writes  as  follows: 

"  It  was  always  strange  to  me  to  see  how  the  solemn 
profundities  and  the  unco*  guid  among  our  population 
used  to  regard  this  trait  of  his  as  something  discreditable 
to  him.  He  received  visits  from  John  L.  Sullivan  at  the 
White  House !  He  entertained  Booker  Washington  there ! 
He  was  a  friend  of  boxers  and  actors!  With  what  a  sneer 
would  they  pronounce  the  words,  *Jack  Abemathy,  the 
wolf-killer,'  and  *  Bill  Sewall,  a  guide '  in  listing  Roose- 
velt's friends.  Mean  minds,  imagining  that  a  man  would 
not  do  anything  except  for  advantage,  cast  about  for 
Roosevelt's  motive.  It  must  be  that  he  had  a  motive; 
by  which  they  meant  a  selfish  one.  They  hit  on  it  — 
it  was  spectacular  drama  to  impress  the  crowd,  or 
demagogic  ostensible  democracy  to  get  votes.  It  was  not 
possible  to  suppose  that  he  actually  liked  these  boxers 
and  wolf-killers  and  reporters  and  wanted  to  be  with  them. 

"  They  would  have  been  still  more  scandalized  if  they 
had  heard  what  he  said  to  me,  and  to  other  people,  too, 

20 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

I  suppose,  at  a  time  when  a  steady  stream  of  corpora- 
tion magnates  was  flowing  in  at  the  White  House  doors: 

"  *  It  tires  me  to  talk  to  rich  men.  You  expect  a 
man  of  millions,  the  head  of  a  great  industry,  to  be  a 
man  worth  hearing;  but  as  a  rule  they  don't  know  any- 
thing outside  of  their  own  business.  You  would  be 
astonished  to  know  how  small  their  range  is  and  how 
little  they  can  talk  about  what  an  intelligent  person 
wants  to  hear.'  " 

In  his  literary  work  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  as  varied 
as  in  his  political  activities.  While  in  the  Legislatiire 
and  a  young  man  of  only  twenty-four,  he  wrote  The 
Naval  War  oj  1812  which  told  the  story  of  Commodore 
Macdonough's  victory  on  Lake  Champlain  and  of  the 
victory  of  Commodore  Perry  on  Lake  Erie. 

After  he  had  spent  several  years  in  the  West  on  a 
ranch,  he  wrote  Hunting  Trips  oj  a  Ranchman  which 
appeared  in  1885  and  The  Wilderness  Hunter  in  1893. 

His  historical  work  in  1896,  imder  the  title  of  The 
Winning  of  the  West,  is  an  extensive  description  of  the 
development  of  that  section  of  the  United  States  west 
of  the  Mississippi  river.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  lover 
of  the  great  West.  Its  origin  and  growth  were  studied 
by  him  in  every  detail  and  he  had  become  intimate  with 
its  spirit  by  living  in  it  and  going  through  its  pioneer 
experiences. 

American  IdealSy  in  which  Mr.  Roosevelt  discussed 
social  and  political  problems,  appeared  in  1904  —  the 
year  that  he  was  nominated  and  elected  president  of 
the  United  States.  Other  works  of  his  on  widely  dif- 
ferent topics  have  appeared  from  time  to  time.     His 

21 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

autobiography  written  several  years  before  his  death  is 
a  voluminous  and  interesting  contribution  to  American 
history  since  it  deals  with  a  period  of  great  events  through 
which  the  nation  passed.  He  was  a  prolific  contributor 
also  to  magazines,  newspapers  and  other  periodicals, 
especially  since  he  retired  from  the  presidency  in  1909. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  was  twice  married.  In  1881  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Alice  Lee  of  Boston.  She  died  in  1884,  leaving 
an  infant  daughter,  Alice  Lee,  now  the  wife  of  Represen- 
tative Nicholas  Longworth  of  Ohio. 

In  1886  Colonel  Roosevelt  married  Edith  Carow  of 
New  York,  by  whom  he  had  five  children.  They  are 
Theodore,  Kermit,  Ethel,  Archibald  B.  and  Quentin. 
The  latter  was  killed  in  the  Worid  War  in  July,  1918, 
when  he  was  over  the  German  lines  in  a  combat  air- 
plane.   All  of  the  Colonel's  sons  were  in  that  war. 

For  more  than  thirty  years  Mr.  Roosevelt  had  his 
home  at  Oyster  Bay,  Long  Island.  It  is  known  as 
Sagamore  Hill  which  commands  a  view  of  Oyster  Bay 
on  Long  Island  Sound. 


22 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  LEGISLATURE 


ON    THE    ANNOUNCEMENT   OF 


THE   DEATH   OF  THEODORE   ROOSEVELT 


January    8,    1919 


PROCLAMATION 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 
Executive  Chamber 

Albany,  January  6,  1919 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT,   a  distinguished  citizen   of   this  State 
and  known  throughout  the  world,  is  dead. 

Formerly  a  Governor  of  New  York  State,  later  Vice-President 
and  then  President  of  the  nation,  we  should  unite  in  appropriate  marks 
of  respect  to  the  memory  of  one  who  for  so  many  years  was  a  leading 
figure  in  all  things  which  had  to  do  with  the  welfare  of  the  nation. 

It  is  proper  that  official  recognition  of  the  loss  of  one  of  our  native 
sons  of  so  much  prominence  be  fittingly  expressed  in  a  manner  due  to 
the  character  and  services  of  the  deceased. 

NOW,  THEREFORE  I,  Alfred  E.  Smith,  Governor  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  do  hereby  order  the  flag  placed  at  half  mast  on  all  public 
buildings  of  the  State  until  after  the  final  obsequies. 

Given  under  my  hand  and  the  Privy 
Seal  of  the  State  at  the  Capitol  in 
the  City  of  Albany  this  sixth  day 
[l.s.]  of   January    in    the   year   of   our 

Lord  one  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  nineteen. 


(Signed) 


Mi^^i>^^^^M' 


By  the  Governor: 

George  R.  Van  Namee, 
Secretary  to  the  Governor. 


25 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  SENATE 

January  8,  1919 

At  the  session  of  the  Senate,  January  8,  1919, 
Lieut. -Gov.  Harry  C.  Walker  presiding,  a  resolution  was 
adopted  in  memory  of  Theodore  Roosevelt.  Several  of 
the  Senators  delivered  brief  addresses  in  memory  of  the 
deceased. 

Senator  J.  Henry  Walters  of  Syracuse,  President 
pro  tem,  spoke  as  follows: 

This  nation  has  suffered  irreparable  loss.  In  the 
death  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  we  have  lost  a  citizen 
who  personified  the  highest  type  of  Americanism.  I  feel 
that  our  loss  is  all  the  greater  at  this  time  because  now 
that  we  are  entering  the  peace  period  his  advice  and 
counsel  would  have  been  so  helpful  to  the  nation  and  to 
its  people.  His  name  is  reverently  upon  the  lips  of  every 
citizen  of  this  country. 

Mr.  President,  I  offer  the  following  resolution,  and 
move  its  adoption: 

Welding  into  one  dynamic  personality  the  rare  qualities  of  aristocracy 
of  both  education  and  training  with  an  all-pervading  democracy  of  both 
thought  and  action,  uniting  the  ripe  judgment  of  the  scholar  and  philoso- 
pher with  the  keen  foresight  of  the  visionary;  firm  and  unyielding  to 
the  point  of  hardness,  yet  cloaking  refusal  and  rebuke  with  such  evident 
and  overwhelming  love  for  his  fellows  that  they  made  friends  instead  of 
enemies;  of  indomitable  will,  unconquerable  courage  and  a  power  of 
mental  and  physical  endurance  that  yielded  only  to  his  Maker's  demand, 
Theodore  Roosevelt  stands  preeminently  the  most  lovable,  the  most 
versatile,  the  greatest  representative  of  a  great  and  versatile  people. 

In  his  death  America  has  lost  a  great  statesman,  a  soldier  who  could 
either  command  or  obey,  an  unassuming  philanthropist,  an  undaunted 
27 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

explorer;  a  beloved  leader  and  wise  counsellor  and  withal  an  unadulterated 
American  —  a  man  among  men. 

Resolved,    That  when  the  Senate  adjourn,  it  do  so  out  of  profound 
respect  for  the  memory  of  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

Senator  Davenport:  At  the  close  of  the  day  when 
there  has  been  laid  to  rest  one  of  the  greatest  of  the 
sons  of  men,  without  sound  of  music  or  word  of  eulogy, 
it  is  no  time  for  speech.  It  is  time  to  think  and  be  still. 
America  is  awed  into  silence.  The  nation  feels,  with 
Rudyard  Kipling,  as  if  Bimyan's  Greatheart  had  died 
in  the  midst  of  his  pilgrimage.  Today  there  has  been 
laid  to  rest  a  great  prophet  of  the  whole  of  the  American 
people.  Mr.  President,  I  second  the  adjournment 
resolution. 

Senator  Downing:  Almost  within  the  boundaries 
of  his  native  city,  on  a  quiet  hilltop  on  the  shore  of 
Long  Island,  they  laid  all  that  was  mortal  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt  to  rest  this  afternoon,  and  we  who  come  from 
his  native  city  do  not  mourn  so  much  over  his  death 
as  we  rejoice  in  his  life,  in  its  example,  in  its  fruitfulness, 
and  all  that  it  has  been  and  all  that  it  promises  to  be 
for  America  and  Americans.  His  soul  is  now  with  God, 
yet  the  influence  of  his  mortal  life  will  long  remain  with 
us  to  be  an  inspiration  to  real  Americans  until  time 
itself  shall  be  no  more.  I  voice  the  sorrow  at  his  passing 
that  all  Americans  feel  at  this  hour,  and  particularly  all 
New  Yorkers.  He  honored  his  State,  his  coimtry,  and 
humanity  by  his  service  in  all  capacities,  national  or 
personal,  and  in  his  great  mind.  We  mourn  his  passing 
for  what  he  did  and  for  what  he  is  now  for  us,  and  for 

28 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

what  he  will  be  to  those  who  shall  come  after  us.  I 
can  think  of  no  better  words  to  say  of  him  than  those 
said  by  the  poet  on  the  occasion  of  his  death: 

With  something  of  the  savant  and  the  sage, 
He  was,  when  all  is  said  and  sung,  a  man; 
The  flower  imperishable  of  this  valiant  age, 
A  True  American. 

Senator  Sage:  Mr.  President,  while  I  feel  with  the 
first  speaker  that  words  are  not  the  thing  on  this  day,  I  feel 
that  I  wish  to  say  a  very  few  of  them,  because  I  knew 
Theodore  Roosevelt  when  he  first  came  to  Albany  and 
because  I  have  known  him  ever  since.  In  all  that  time 
which,  when  we  look  back  on  it,  was  a  time  when  men 
were  becoming  soft,  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  the  apostle 
of  manliness.  At  a  time  like  today,  when,  after  this 
great  war,  a  great  many  people,  not  only  abroad  but  in 
this  land,  are  talking  of  internationalism,  are  talking 
against  what  I  regard  as  the  deepest  passion  in  human 
life  —  loyalty  to  one's  native  land  —  Theodore  Roosevelt 
stands  like  a  shining  light  to  show  what  loyalty  and 
patriotism  mean  and  what  they  mean  to  humanity. 
Manliness,  loyalty  and  Americanism!  There  is  nothing 
more  to  say.  There  is  nothing  more  that  I  could  say  in 
praise.     I  am  only  paying  a  tribute. 

Senator  Foley:  Those  of  us  who  had  the  sad  duty 
of  attending  the  simple  ceremonies  at  Oyster  Bay  today 
were  impressed  with  one  great  fact,  and  that  was,  the 
contrast  in  Roosevelt's  life  and  death.  The  utter  sim- 
plicity of  the  ceremonies  in  that  small  church  —  the 
contrast  with  the  pomp  of  emperors  and  kings  that  are 

29 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

passing,  and  the  passing  of  the  simple  American  citizen, 
the  bier  decorated  with  the  cavalry  flag  of  the  Rough 
Riders,  the  body  of  the  former  president  of  the  United 
States  was  carried  out  in  a  simple,  ordinary  manner. 
Now  I  said  that  Mr.  Roosevelt's  life  was  one  of  fierce 
activity  compared  with  the  simplicity  of  his  death,  the 
manner  of  his  death.  He  answered  to  the  **one  clear 
call ''  that  Tennyson  spoke  about.  His  fierce  activities 
fighting  his  way  up  as  a  man  in  public  life,  from  mem- 
bership in  the  chamber  on  the  other  side  of  this  build- 
ing to  the  executive  chamber  on  the  second  floor,  up  to 
the  highest  oflice  within  the  gift  of  the  American  peo- 
ple —  all  carry  a  lesson  to  the  youth  of  America.  The 
wonderful  understanding  he  had  of  the  American  spirit, 
the  wonderful  doctrines  he  expressed  of  humanitarianism 
in  the  social  side  and  the  social  needs  of  our  people, 
his  sweeping  aside  of  the  smaller  things  in  accomplishing 
great  results  —  as  in  the  building  of  our  great  canal  —  all 
were  typical  of  this  great  man.  There  can  be  no  par- 
ties, no  factions,  in  rendering  our  tribute  to  Mr.  Roosevelt. 
I  therefore  join  in  seconding  this  resolution. 

The  President:  All  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of 
the  resolution  as  read  please  arise.     (Carried.) 

The  Senate  then  adjourned  out  of  respect  to  the 
memory  of  Mr.  Roosevelt. 


30 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  ASSEMBLY 

January  8,  1919 

In  the  Assembly,  Speaker  Thaddeus  C.  Sweet  pre- 
siding, speeches  were  made  by  Assemblyman  Simon  L. 
Adler  of  Rochester,  majority  leader,  by  Assemblyman 
Charles  D.  Donohue  of  New  York  city,  minority  leader, 
and  by  other  members,  in  memory  of  Mr.  Roosevelt. 

Mr.  Adler  spoke  as  follows: 

Mr.  Speaker,  there  was  laid  to  rest  this  afternoon, 
in  the  burying  ground  near  the  little  village  where  he 
made  his  home,  a  great  American.  Theodore  Roosevelt 
was  typical  of  the  spirit  of  America  in  its  energy,  in  its 
desire  for  progress  and  in  its  effort  for  constant  improve- 
ment. I  will  not  attempt  what  has  been  attempted  by 
much  abler  persons  than  I,  and  will  be  attempted  for 
many  years  to  come,  to  in  any  way  enumerate  those 
qualities  which  have  made  him  great  and  those  qualities 
which  have  made  him  practically  an  idol  of  the  Amer- 
ican people.  I  will  refer  only  to  one  achievement  of  his, 
or  rather  one  type  of  achievement,  which  is  particularly 
proper  in  these  halls,  and  that  is  the  effort  which  he 
made  and  the  accomplishment  which  has  come  from  it 
in  the  effort  to  arouse  the  spirit  of  the  American  people 
in  the  matter  of  political  morality.  I  suppose  that  he 
has  done  more  than  any  other  man  in  this  respect  in 
the  work  of  arousing  the  people  to  a  sense  of  their  politi- 
cal responsibility,  to  a  sense  of  the  necessity  of  taking  a 
personal  part  in  their  government  and  in  the  choice  of 

31 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

those  who  are  to  govern  them.  If  he  had  done  no  more 
than  this,  he  would  have  made  a  place  for  himself  in  the 
history  of  the  country  and  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
I  think  it  would  not  be  inappropriate  in  this  House 
where  he  began  his  political  career  nearly  forty  years  ago 
to  speak  of  his  connection  with  this  body.  We  are  for- 
tunate in  having  in  his  own  words  his  impressions  of  the 
Legislature  of  his  day,  an  entirely  different  Legislature, 
not  so  much  in  its  makeup,  but  in  its  character,  from 
the  Legislature  we  have  now.  As  I  have  suggested, 
political  ideals  have  not  changed.  Methods  and  ideals 
have  improved  since  his  day,  and  it  was  his  work  here 
which  started  the  improvement  of  which  I  speak.  I  have 
found  in  the  Century  Magazine  printed  in  April,  1885,  an 
article  written  by  Mr.  Roosevelt  very  shortly  after  the 
conclusion  of  his  three  years'  service  in  this  House.  This 
article  is  entitled,  "  Phases  of  State  Legislation,"  and  it 
goes  with  considerable  detail  into  his  study  of  conditions 
in  the  Legislature  of  his  time.  I  will  read  only  a  few 
extracts  from  this  article  which  I  think  will  be  interest- 
ing to  us  now: 

"  Few  persons  realize  the  magnitude  of  the  interests  affected  by 
State  legislation  in  New  York.  It  is  no  mere  figure  of  speech  to  call 
New  York  the  Empire  State;  and  most  of  the  laws  directly  and  immediately 
affecting  the  interests  of  its  citizens  are  passed  at  Albany,  and  not  at 
Washington.  In  fact,  there  is  at  Albany  a  little  Home  Rule  Parliament 
which  presides  over  the  destines  of  a  commonwealth  more  populous 
than  any  one  of  two-thirds  of  the  kingdoms  of  Europe,  and  one  which, 
in  point  of  wealth,  material  prosperity,  variety  of  interests,  extent  of 
territory,  and  capacity  for  expansion,  can  fairly  be  said  to  rank  next 
to  the  powers  of  the  first  class. 

This  little  parliament  composed  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
members  in  the  Assembly  and  thirty-two  in  the  Senate  is,  in  the  fullest 

32 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

sense  of  the  term,  a  representative  body;  there  is  hardly  one  of  the  many 
and  widely  diversified  interests  of  the  State  that  has  not  a  mouthpiece 
at  Albany,  and  hardly  a  single  class  of  its  citizens  —  not  even  excepting, 
I  regret  to  say,  the  criminal  class  —  which  lacks  its  representative  among 
the  legislators.  In  the  three  Legislatures  of  which  I  have  been  a  member, 
I  have  sat  with  bankers  and  bricklayers,  with  merchants  and  mechanics, 
v/ith  lawyers,  farmers,  day  laborers,  saloon  keepers,  clergymen  and  prize 
fighters.  Among  my  colleagues  there  were  many  very  good  men;  there 
was  a  still  more  numerous  class  of  men  who  were  neither  very  good  nor 
very  bad,  but  went  one  way  or  the  other,  according  to  the  strength  of  the 
various  conflicting  influences  acting  around,  behind  and  upon  them; 
and  finally,  there  were  m.any  very  bad  men.  Still,  the  New  York  Legis- 
lature, taken  as  a  whole,  is  by  no  means  as  bad  a  body  as  we  would  be 
led  to  believe  if  our  judgment  was  based  purely  on  what  we  read  in  the 
great  metropolitan  papers;  for  the  custom  of  the  latter  is  to  portray  things 
as  either  very  much  better  or  very  much  worse  than  they  are.  Where 
a  number  of  men,  many  of  them  poor,  some  of  them  unscrupulous,  and 
others  elected  by  constituents  too  ignorant  to  hold  them  to  a  proper 
accountability  for  their  actions,  are  put  into  a  position  of  great  temporary 
power,  where  they  are  called  to  take  action  upon  questions  affecting 
the  welfare  of  large  corporations  and  wealthy  private  individuals,  the 
chances  of  corruption  are  always  great,  and  that  there  is  much  viciousness 
and  political  dishonesty,  much  moral  cowardice,  and  a  good  deal  of 
actual  bribe  taking  in  Albany,  no  one  who  has  had  any  practical  experience 
of  legislation  can  doubt;  but,  at  the  same  time,  I  think  that  the  good 
members  always  outnumber  the  bad,  and  that  there  is  never  any  doubt 
as  to  the  result  when  a  naked  question  of  right  or  wrong  can  be  placed 
clearly  and  in  its  true  light  before  the  Legislature.  The  trouble  is  that 
on  many  questions  the  Legislature  never  does  have  the  right  and  wrong: 
clearly  shown  it.  Either  some  bold  clever  parliamentary  tactician  snaps 
the  measure  through  before  the  members  are  aware  of  its  nature,  or 
else  the  obnoxious  features  are  so  combined  with  good  ones  as  to  procure 
the  support  of  a  certain  proportion  of  that  large  class  of  men  whose 
intentions  are  excellent,  but  whose  intellects  are  foggy." 

I  will  read  another  extract  in  a  very  much  lighter 
vein.  After  giving  a  number  of  experiences  with  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislature,  and  examples  of  humor  which 

33 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

occurred  and  for  which  the  members  were  responsible, 
he  inserts  this  paragraph: 

"After  all,  outsiders  furnish  quite  as  much  fun  as  the  legislators 
themselves.  The  number  of  men  who  persist  in  writing  one  letters  of 
praise,  abuse  and  advice  on  every  conceivable  subject  is  appalling;  and  the 
writers  are  of  every  grade,  from  the  lunatic  and  the  criminal  up.  The 
most  difficult  to  deal  with  are  the  men  with  hobbies.  There  is  the 
Protestant  fool,  who  thinks  that  our  liberties  are  menaced  by  the 
machinations  of  the  Church  of  Rome;  and  his  companion  idiot,  who 
wants  legislation  against  all  secret  societies,  especially  the  Masons.  Then 
there  are  the  believers  in  "  isms  "  of  which  the  women  suffragists  stand 
in  the  first  rank.  (Now,  to  the  horror  of  my  relatives,  I  have  always 
been  a  believer  in  woman's  rights,  but  I  must  confess  I  have  never  seen 
such  a  hopelessly  impracticable  set  of  persons  as  the  women  suffragists 
who  came  to  Albany  to  get  legislation.)  They  simply  would  not  draw 
up  their  measures  in  proper  form;  when  I  pointed  out  to  one  of  them 
that  their  proposed  bill  was  drawn  up  in  direct  defiance  of  certain  of  the 
sections  of  the  Constitution  of  the  State,  he  blandly  replied  that  he  did 
not  care  at  all  for  that,  because  the  measure  had  been  drawn  up  so  as  to 
be  in  accord  with  the  Constitution  of  Heaven.  There  was  no  answer 
to  this  beyond  the  very  obvious  one  that  Albany  was  in  no  way  akin 
to  Heaven." 

He  concludes  his  article  with  this  paragraph: 

"In  concluding  I  would  say  that  while  there  is  so  much  evil  at 
Albany,  and  so  much  reason  for  our  exerting  ourselves  to  bring  about 
a  better  state  of  things,  yet  there  is  no  cause  for  being  disheartened  or 
for  thinking  that  it  is  hopeless  to  expect  improvement.  On  the  contrary, 
the  standard  of  legislative  morals  is  certainly  higher  than  it  was  fifteen  years 
ago  or  twenty-five  years  ago,  and,  judging  by  appearances,  it  seems  likely 
that  it  will  continue  slowly  and  by  fits  and  starts  to  improve  in  the  future; 
keeping  pace  exactly  with  the  gradual  awakening  of  the  popular  mind 
to  the  necessity  of  having  honest  and  intelligent  representatives  in  the 
State  Legislature." 

Mr.   Adler  offered   for  the   consideration  of  the 
house  a  resolution,  in  the  words  following: 

34 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

Welding  into  one  dynamic  personality  the  rare  qualities  of  aristocracy 
of  birth,  education  and  training  with  an  all-pervading  democracy  of  both 
thought  and  action,  uniting  the  ripe  judgment  of  the  scholar  and  phi- 
losopher with  the  keen  foresight  of  the  visionary;  firm  and  unyielding  to 
the  point  of  hardness  yet  cloaking  refusal  and  rebuke  with  such  evident 
and  overwhelming  love  for  his  fellows  that  they  made  friends  instead  of 
enemies;  of  indomitable  will,  unconquerable  courage  and  a  power  of  mental 
and  physical  endurance  that  yielded  only  to  his  Maker's  demand, 
Theodore  Roosevelt  stands  preeminently  the  most  lovable,  the  most 
versatile,  the  greatest  representative  of  a  great  and  versatile  people. 

In  his  death  America  has  lost  a  great  statesman,  a  soldier  who  could 
either  command  or  obey,  an  unassuming  philanthropist,  an  undaunted 
explorer,  a  beloved  leader  and  wise  counsellor  and  withal  an  unadultered 
American  —  a  man  among  men. 

Resolved,  That  this  House  do  now  adjourn  in  respect  to  the  memory 
of  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

Mr.  C.  D.  Donohue:  Appreciating  that  whatever 
is  said  this  evening  will  add  neither  lustre  nor  glory 
nor  honor  to  that  great  American  who  has  found  his 
final  resting-place  today,  nevertheless,  I  feel  that  it  is 
eminently  proper  this  body  should  take  action  upon  the 
demise  of  one  who  had  not  only  the  respect,  the  confi- 
dence, the  esteem  of  all,  but  was  loved  by  every  one 
who  called  himself  an  American.  Theodore  Roosevelt 
was  a  statesman  and  a  publicist.  For  over  seven  years 
he  served  as  chief  executive  of  the  United  States,  as 
vice-president  of  the  United  States  and  likewise  in  the 
exalted  office  of  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
He  typified  in  himiself  the  ideal  American.  He  served 
in  this  body  and  his  career  while  a  member  of  this  Legis- 
lature presaged  his  usefulness  in  the  future.  His  vigor 
and  his  manhood  were  exemplified  on  many  occasions  in 
his  subsequent  career,  but  above  and  beyond  all,  the 

35 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

one  thing  to  my  mind  that  I  feel  has  ingratiated  him 
in  the  hearts  of  all  Americans  was  his  true  ideal  of 
Americanism,  his  insistence  that  the  rights  of  Americans 
must  be  maintained  at  all  times.  For  this,  if  nothing 
else,  America  owes  him  an  immense  debt  of  gratitude. 
The  opposition  his  strong  convictions  and  earnestness 
created  were  captured  by  his  courage  and  disarmed  by 
his  honesty.  He  was  a  man  of  great  force,  a  man  of 
religion.  Not  only  was  he  loved  by  every  true  Amer- 
ican, but  there  was  a  warm  spot  for  him  in  the  hearts 
of  the  peoples  of  all  the  world.  No  man  in  modern 
public  life  was  connected  with  so  many  and  different 
important  events.  There  was  no  office  he  ever  occupied 
which  he  did  not  adorn.  His  career  is  closed,  but  it  is 
closed  with  the  respect  and  the  admiration  of  every 
American.  His  loss  is  a  personal  loss  which  I  know 
every  one  in  this  chamber  feels  and  which  will  be  felt 
by  all  of  our  citizens. 

Mr.  Kennedy:  I  do  not  think  it  would  be  fair  for 
me  to  miss  this  opportunity  to  say  that  organized  labor 
throughout  this  nation  has  lost  a  great  friend.  Back  in 
the  early  nineties,  when  the  coal  barons  of  this  country 
tried  to  have  their  way,  the  great  man  that  we  speak 
of  tonight  was  perhaps  the  first  president  of  the  United 
States  to  raise  his  hand  in  defense  of  organized  labor, 
and  I  should  not  want  to  miss  this  opportunity  to  let 
this  body  know,  to  let  the  people  of  our  nation  know, 
that  organized  labor  has  lost  a  true  friend. 

Mr.  Louis  M.  Martin:  I  hesitate  about  saying  a 
word  in  seconding  the  resolution  offered  by  the  leader 

36 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

of  the  majority,  but  I  feel,  perhaps,  that  I  should  do  so. 
Nineteen  years  seems  to  be  quite  a  span  in  human  life. 
Still,  looking  back,  nineteen  years  seems  but  a  short 
time.  Three  of  us  are  here  in  this  body  tonight  who 
nineteen  years  ago  were  members.  In  those  days,  as 
Mr.  Adler  has  said,  political  conditions  were  somewhat 
changed  and  somewhat  different  than  at  the  present 
time.  Political  organizations,  sir,  were  much  stronger 
in  their  power  and  influence.  Circimistances  so  changed 
conditions  in  one  of  the  party  organizations  that  a  yoimg 
man  forty-two  years  of  age,  without  any  political  experi- 
ence except  three  years  in  this  House,  purely  on  his 
military  record,  was  nominated,  elected  and  inaugurated 
governor  of  this  State.  He  faced  two  powerful  organiza- 
tions of  political  affiliations.  Those  men  here  tonight 
who  were  members  then,  Mr.  Miller  of  Erie  and  Mr. 
Witter  of  Tioga,  can  recall  the  various  remarks  that 
went  about  this  chamber  and  the  Senate  —  what  was 
the  boy  governor  going  to  do?  Some  suggested  that  it 
would  prove  a  disastrous  failure,  the  administration  con- 
ducted by  a  military  colonel  of  forty-two  years  of  experi- 
ence. We  assembled  here,  as  we  assembled  tonight,  and 
listened  to  his  first  message.  It  convinced  us,  Mr.  Speaker, 
as  his  actions  during  that  year  and  the  next  convinced 
us,  that  we  had  at  the  helm  of  this  State  in  the  executive 
chamber  a  man  whose  grasp  of  the  public  affairs  of  this 
State,  whose  ideas  of  proper  government,  whose  bent 
and  trend  was  forever  towards  what  was  right,  and  who 
was  so  great  that  instead  of  dismembering  the  party 
organization,  sir,  he  built  up  party  organization  and  left 
it  stronger  and  better  because  he  occupied  the  place 

37 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

that  he  did.  Such  a  man  in  our  State  government 
should  never  be  forgotten,  and  we  men  who  look  back 
on  those  years  that  it  was  our  privilege  to  be  associated 
with  him  here  look  back  upon  them  as  the  brightest  two 
years  in  our  lives.  If  any  one  thing  can  be  cited  as  an 
earmark  of  this  man's  life,  it  was  the  bill  that  was  put 
before  this  House  under  his  direction  and  special  message 
by  which  $600,000,000  of  property  in  this  State  that  had 
never  before  paid  a  dollar's  worth  of  taxes  was  attached 
to  the  assessment-rolls  of  this  State  and  continues  until 
the  present  time  to  bear  its  just  burden  of  the  expense 
of  government.  Those  of  us  here  tonight  who  were  here 
at  that  time  know  what  he  did  for  the  State  during  the 
strenuous  days  that  were  used  in  passing  this  most 
beneficial  measure.  It  was  one  of  the  things  that  after- 
wards made  him  vice-president  and  then  the  president 
of  this  great  country.  After  he  retired  there  were  those 
of  us  who  differed  from  this  man,  but  the  incident,  thank 
Heaven,  has  been  closed  long  ago  before  we  come  here 
to  do  honor  to  his  memory.  A  great  man  has  left  us 
and  the  nations  and  the  rulers  of  the  world  send  their 
condolences  to  his  bereaved  family,  but  we  in  this  State, 
sir,  have  sustained  a  personal  loss.  Long  after  the  three 
of  us  who  are  trying  to  say  a  word  in  his  memory  have 
been  forgotten,  the  great  imprint  that  his  magnificent 
character  has  left  upon  this  State  will  continue  to  act 
as  a  guide  for  good  government  for  future  men  to  follow. 

The  Speaker:  We  have  met  under  the  shadow  of 
a  great  national  sorrow.  Words  seem  too  weak  to  express 
that  which  we  all  feel.    As  it  has  been  said,  Theodore 

38 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

Roosevelt  began  his  political  career  in  this  chamber.  He 
closed  it  as  the  first  citizen  of  the  world,  known  and 
respected  in  every  nation  on  earth.  As  a  citizen,  hus- 
band and  father,  legislator,  soldier,  governor,  president 
of  the  United  States,  and  as  a  man,  he  met  every  obliga- 
tion with  a  stout  heart  and  fearless  energy.  The  world 
loses  a  wonderful  character,  but  history  gains  a  subject 
which  will  live  as  long  as  men  record  and  read  the  deeds 
of  our  great  men.  His  life  was  an  inspiration  to  every 
man  who  has  faith  in  his  coimtry.  By  word  and  deed 
he  proved  his  loyalty.  When  the  clouds  of  the  World 
War  were  gathering,  he  constantly  urged  the  necessity 
of  preparedness,  and  he  stood  ready  at  all  times  to  fight 
for  the  country  he  loved,  with  his  hands  and  his  brain. 
The  sacrifices  which  he  has  been  called  upon  to  suffer 
and  which  tested  his  heart  and  strength  called  for  hero- 
ism, but  he  never  flinched  in  his  devotion  to  his  highest 
ideals.  American  history  will  be  richer  because  of  his 
services  to  his  country.  He  loved  nature,  he  loved  his 
home  and  made  it  to  himself  the  happiest  place  on  earth. 
He  always  had  faith  in  his  fellowmen  and  led  them 
aright.  He  could  differ  with  his  people  and  still  remain 
their  friend.  In  any  test  that  can  be  applied  he  was 
100  per  cent  American.  There  never  was  a  greater  need 
of  deeper  national  thinking  than  today.  We  shall  miss 
him  and  his  counsels  at  every  turn  we  make.  In  his 
last  public  statement  read  last  Sunday  night  in  New 
York  he  said: 

'*  There  must  be  no  sagging  back  in  the  fight  for  Americanism.     If  an 
immigrant  comes  here  he  shall  be  treated  on  an  equality  with  everyone 
else  regardless  of  his  creed  or  birthplace  or  origin.     This  is  predicated 
39 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

upon  a  man  being  in  very  fact  an  American  and  nothing  but  an  American. 
There  cannot  be  divided  allegiance  at  all.  We  have  room  in  this  country 
for  but  one  flag  —  the  American  flag;  we  have  room  for  but  one  language 
—  the  English  language;  we  have  room  for  but  one  soul  loyalty  and  that 
is  loyalty  to  the  American  people." 

Today  we  have  laid  him  away  to  sleep  with  the 
immortals  of  the  ages  with  the  flag  of  his  country  under 
which  he  served  flying  the  signal  of  sorrow  all  around  the 
world.  His  life  and  his  work  shall  inspire  us  now  with 
deeper  faith  in  our  institutions  and  a  deeper  determina- 
tion to  live  and  work  for  the  best  country  in  the  world. 
Theodore  Roosevelt  will  always  live  in  the  history  of 
the  nation  he  loved  and  served  and  as  the  years  go  by 
his  memory  will  grow  dearer  to  all  true  Americans.  His 
last  words  were,  "  Please  turn  out  the  light."  Shall  we 
then  say  that  his  Heavenly  Father  heard  these  words 
and  turned  out  the  light  of  his  life  forever  to  face  the 
wonders  of  eternity? 

Mr.  Speaker  put  the  question  whether  the  House 
would  agree  to  said  resolution  and  it  was  determined  in 
the  affirmative  by  a  unanimous  rising  vote,  and  the 
House  adjourned  until  Thursday,  January  9th,  at  11 
o'clock  A.  M. 


40 


ROOSEVELT  MExMORIAL  DAY 


PROCLAMATION 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 
Executive  Chamber 

Albany,  January  13,  1919 

WHEREAS,  There  is  a  sentiment  throughout  the  country  that 
appropriate  memorial  exercises  in  honor  of  the  late  Colonel 
Theodore  Roosevelt  be  held  in  the  near  future;  and 
WHEREAS,  The  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  appointed 
February  ninth  as  a  day  for  memorial  services  on  the  part  of  the  National 
Government,  and  a  movement  has  been  inaugurated  in  many  States 
to  hold  memorial  exercises  on  the  same  date  to  honor  the  memory  of  one 
of  our  great  American  statesmen; 

NOW,  THEREFORE,  I,  Alfred  E.  Smith,  Governor  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  do  hereby  proclaim  Sunday,  February  ninth,  as  Roosevelt 
Memorial  Day  in  the  State  of  New  York,  in  order  that  our  people  may  do 
honor  to  one  who  was  Governor  of  this  State  and  President  of  the  United 
States;  and  I  request  that  such  memorial  exercises  be  held  by  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  by  the  people  and  organizations 
throughout  the  State  generally. 

Given  under  my  hand  and  the  Privy 
Seal  of  the  State  at  the  Capitol  in 
the  City  of  Albany  this  thirteenth 
[L.S.I  day  of  January  in  the  year  of  our 

Lord  one  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  nineteen. 


(Signed) 


^//^M^^^^^t- 


By  the  Governor: 

George  R.  Van  Namee, 
Secretary  to  the  Governor. 


43 


CONCURRENT  RESOLUTION 

In  Assembly 

January  29,  1919 

The  following  resolution  was  offered  by  Franklin 
A.  Coles,  Member  of  Assembly  from  the  Second  District 
of  Nassau  County. 

Whereas,  In  the  death  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  the  State  and  nation 
have  lost  an  ideal  American;  and 

Whereas,  He  began  his  political  life  as  a  member  of  the  Assembly 
of  the  State  of  New  York  and  it  is  fitting  that  some  acknowledgment 
of  his  services  to  his  country  and  State  be  made  by  the  Legislature. 

Resolved  (if  the  Senate  concur).  That  on  February  ninth,  nineteen 
hundred  and  nineteen,  a  memorial  service  be  held  in  commemoration 
of  his  death. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  consisting  of  three  Senators^  appointed 
by  the  temporary  president  of  the  Senate,  and  three  members  of  the 
Assembly,  appointed  by  the  Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  be  ordered  to 
arrange  for  such  memorial  service. 

Adopted. 

Pursuant  to  above  resolution  the  following  committee 
was  appointed  to  arrange  for  the  memorial  service: 

For  Senate :  George  L.  Thompson,  George  T.  Burling 
and  Bernard  Downing. 

For  Assembly:  Franklin  A.  Coles,  Lx)uis  M.  Martin 
and  Peter  A.  McArdle. 


45 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES 

IN  HONOR  OF 

THEODORE   ROOSEVELT 

Capitol,  Assembly  Chamber,  Albany,  New  York 

Sunday,  February  Ninth 

Nineteen  Hundred  Nineteen 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES 

Assembly  Chamber 

Albany,  February  9,  1919 

Honorable  Louis  M.  Martin,  presiding: 

The  assemblage  will  please  come  to  order.  Invoca- 
tion by  the  Rev.  C.  H.  French  of  Albany. 

Invocation  by  Rev.  C.  H.  French, 

Pastor  Madison  Avenue  Presbyterian  Chltrch,  Albany 

Let  us  all  look  to  God  for  His  blessing. 

Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  we  ask  Thee 
to  grant  us  Thy  blessing  as  we  have  met  together  in 
this  memorial  service.  We  rejoice  that  we  may  always 
count  upon  Thy  favor  and  upon  Thy  blessed  presence 
when  we  would  be  met  together  to  consider  matters 
concerning  the  great  affairs  of  time  and  eternity. 

We  pray  that  tonight  Thou  wilt  abundantly  bless 
us  as  our  minds  go  out  over  the  past,  over  the  way  in 
which  Thou  hast  raised  up  men  to  lead  the  affairs  of 
this  great  nation  and  people. 

We  thank  Thee,  our  Heavenly  Father,  that  amid 
all  the  uncertainties  of  life  that  we  may  count  upon 
Thee,  upon  the  everlasting  arms  that  are  beneath  us 
and  upon  the  infinite  hand  that  is  guiding  and  shaping 
the  affairs  of  humanity. 

We  thank  Thee,  O  God,  that  Thou  hast  revealed 
Thyself  unto  us  as  the  God  of  righteousness  and  truth 
and  life;  that  through  the  world  and  through  Thy  word 

49 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

and  through  Thy  Divine  Son,  Thou  hast  made  Thy- 
self known  unto  us  as  our  Father. 

Tonight,  we  do  thank  Thee,  O  God,  for  the  way 
in  which  our  lives  have  been  guided;  we  thank  Thee  for 
the  rich  heritage  that  is  ours;  we  thank  Thee  for  the 
splendid  company  of  men  who  in  days  past  have  been 
inspired  by  Thee  to  lead  Thy  people. 

Especially,  we  would  pray  for  him  whom  we  are 
met  tonight  to  honor.  We  thank  Thee,  O  God,  for  his 
rich  heritage,  for  his  natural  endowments.  We  thank 
Thee  for  the  earnest  and  the  fruitful  use  that  he  made 
of  the  talents  that  were  committed  to  his  care.  We 
thank  Thee  for  his  passionate  devotion  to  the  welfare 
of  this  nation.  We  thank  Thee,  O  God,  for  his  manli- 
ness, for  his  hatred  of  all  shams  and  hypocrisies.  We 
thank  Thee  for  the  splendid  ideals  that  he  has  set  before 
the  manhood  of  this  nation. 

Wilt  Thou  so  guide  us  in  this  service;  wilt  Thou 
so  use  Thy  servants  who  shall  interpret  unto  us  the 
life  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  that  we  may  with  one  accord 
more  perfectly  dedicate  ourselves  to  whole-hearted  ser- 
vice of  the  nation  and  of  all  humanity. 

We  beseech  Thee,  O  God,  that  Thou  wilt  look  with 
loving  favor  upon  the  president  of  the  United  States, 
upon  the  governor  of  this  State,  and  upon  all  those  who 
are  in  positions  of  influence  and  authority  and  power  in 
our  land  and  in  all  the  lands  of  the  earth.  Wilt  Thou 
in  Thy  wisdom  and  in  Thy  love  so  move  upon  their 
hearts  and  minds  that  they  may  act  and  speak  and  will 
so  that  light  and  order,  truth  and  justice,  may  be  main- 
tained in  all  the  world. 

50 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

So  teach  us,  O  God,  to  number  our  days  that  we 
may  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom,  and  in  Thine  own 
time,  O  God,  bring  us  home  imto  Thyself  to  receive  the 
reward  of  those  who  have  labored  faithfully  in  Thine 
earthly  vineyard. 

Through  Christ  Jesus,  our  Lord,  Amen. 

The  Chairman,  Honorable  Louis  M.  Martin: 
This  magnificent  outpouring  of  the  citizens  of  the  State 
but  illustrates  the  affection  and  the  esteem  the  people 
of  this  country  had  for  America's  first  citizen. 

Those  of  us  whose  privilege  it  was  to  serve  in  this 
House  when  he  was  the  governor  of  the  State  look  back 
upon  those  days  as  cherished  days. 

On  behalf  of  the  committee  in  charge,  expression  of 
thanks  is  made  for  this  outpouring  of  citizenship. 

The  chair  will  deviate  from  the  usual  expressions  of 
praise  or  of  a  laudatory  nature  in  the  introduction  of  the 
distinguished  gentlemen  who  have  so  kindly  consented 
to  come  here  tonight  and  address  us.  So  closely  identi- 
fied have  they  been  with  the  civic  and  educational  his- 
tory of  this  State  that  laudatory  words  of  introduction 
from  the  chair  will  be  entirely  inappropriate. 

First,  will  be  a  selection  by  the  quartet. 

Selection  —  ''  Lead,  Kindly  Light,"  by  the  quartet. 

LEAD,  kindly  LIGHT! 
Lead,  kindly  Light,  amid  th'  encircling  gloom, 

Lead  Thou  me  on! 
The  night  is  dark,  and  I  am  far  from  home; 

Lead  Thou  me  on! 
Keep  Thou  my  feet,  I  do  not  ask  to  see 
The  distant  scene;  one  step  enough  for  me. 
51 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

I  was  not  ever  thus,  nor  prayed  that  Thou 

Shouldst  lead  me  on; 
I  loved  to  choose  and  see  my  path;  but  now 

Lead  Thou  me  on! 
I  loved  the  garish  day,  and,  spite  of  fears, 
Pride  ruled  my  will.    Remember  not  past  years! 

So  long  Thy  power  has  blest  me,  sure  it  still 

Will  lead  me  on 
O'er  moor  and  fen,  o'er  crag  and  torrent,  till 

The  night  is  gone, 
And  with  the  morn  those  angel  faces  smile 
Which  I  have  loved  long  since  and  lost  awhile! 

The  Chairman:  Address  by  the  Honorable  Joseph 
A.  Lawson  of  the  city  of  Albany. 

Address  by  Honorable  Joseph  A.  Lawson 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  In  look- 
ing over  this  wonderful  concourse  of  men  and  women 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  one  must  be  deeply  sensible 
of  the  honor  conferred  upon  him  by  the  committee  of 
the  two  Houses  of  this  great  Legislature  in  being  selected 
to  pay  a  slight  tribute  at  this  time  to  the  memory  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt.  I  am  not  here  to  serve  funeral- 
baked  meats,  and  I  do  not  think  that  he  would  have  it  so. 

As  I  am  conscious  of  the  fact  that  this  is  a  gather- 
ing to  perpetuate  and  keep  green  his  memory,  I  feel  that 
the  personality  of  the  man,  and  his  life  and  work,  should 
lead  one  to  view  his  going  "over  the  top"  with  cheer- 
fulness, even  as  he  lived;  to  view  his  taking-away  with 
hope  and  not  with  despair;  to  gaze  upon  the  empty 
chair  with  the  moist  eye  of  affection  and  warm-hearted 
recollection. 

52 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

I  want  to  dissipate,  perhaps,  an  erroneous  impres- 
sion that  has  been  circulated  with  regard  to  my  personal 
intimacy  with  Theodore  Roosevelt.  It  was  not  great; 
it  was  limited,  but  I  came  in  contact  with  him  at  an 
early  period  of  his  career. 

In  1882,  the  men  of  Columbia  university  who  were 
being  inducted  into  the  mysteries  of  the  legal  profession 
received  their  education  in  the  old,  now  obsolete,  build- 
ing on  Great  Jones  street,  at  the  comer  of  Lafayette 
place.  The  class  was  large,  over  four  hundred  in  num- 
ber, divided  into  sections,  one  portion  receiving  instruc- 
tion in  the  morning,  another  in  the  afternoon.  If  you 
didn't  happen  to  belong  to  the  morning  section,  you 
never  saw  the  men  in  that  division  of  the  class  and 
vice  versa  with  regard  to  the  afternoon  section.  But 
among  my  classmates  was  Theodore  Roosevelt,  and  I 
mind  his  passing  to  and  from  the  lecture  room,  and  the 
casual  acquaintance.  But  there  are  circumstances  asso- 
ciated with  my  pleasant  acquaintance  with  him  that 
stand  out  with  marked  clearness  in  my  recollection 
because  it  afforded  me  both  amusement  and  chagrin, 
and  illustrated  a  characteristic  of  Mr.  Roosevelt  that  I 
think  all  of  those  who  knew  him  well  appreciated. 

During  the  course  of  the  studies  we  were  both  pur- 
suing, he  found  that  broader  field  in  which  he  labored 
so  assiduously.  He  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  dry, 
uninteresting  details  of  the  legal  profession,  the  intricacies 
of  the  rule  in  Shelly's  case,  the  study  of  the  feudal 
tenures  of  England  as  exemplified  in  the  great  work  of 
Blackstone,  were  not  the  things  upon  which  that  avid 
mind  of  his  must  feed,  and  so  he  entered  the  arena  of 

53 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

politics  and  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State 
of  New  York  without  graduating  and  taking  his  degree. 
But  it  so  happened  that  after  he  had  arrived  in 
these  halls  of  legislation,  had  made  his  mark  and  became 
distinguished  as  one  of  the  younger  members  of  the 
lower  body,  down  in  old  Columbia  it  was  decided  that 
we  wanted  some  special  legislation  for  our  institution. 
In  those  days,  the  lawyers  were  divided  into  two  classes  — 
attorneys  and  counsellors.  You  were  first  admitted  to 
this  wonderful  profession  as  an  attorney,  and  then  when 
you  had  learned  to  fill  out  a  summons,  serve  a  subpoena, 
and  empty  the  waste-basket,  you  might  in  due  time  be 
advanced  to  the  more  dignified  degree  of  counsellor. 
Being  ambitious,  it  seemed  to  us  a  fictitious  distinction; 
we  wanted  to  go  to  work  immediately  and  appear  in 
the  highest  court  of  the  State,  and  so  we  decided  to 
have  the  distinction  abolished,  and  to  that  end  my  con- 
stituents in  the  law  school  for  two  reasons,  I  think  — 
one  because  of  my  being  perhaps  a  little  unafraid,  and 
second,  having  a  home  in  the  city  of  Albany,  which 
would  save  considerable  expense  —  placed  me  upon  the 
committee  to  look  after  that  legislation,  and  with  me 
a  man  from  the  far  west,  and  very  aptly  named  "  West- 
em  Starr.'*  And  so  we  came  to  the  Legislature  and  of 
course  our  fellow  classmate  was  the  first  man  we  inter- 
viewed—  Theodore  Roosevelt.  I  can  see  it  as  though 
it  were  yesterday.  We  sent  in  our  cards,  let  him  know 
what  we  wanted  and  the  wish  was  simply  the  fore- 
runner of  his  energy,  of  his  push,  of  his  going  ahead 
with  the  proposition  that  we  sought  and  that  we  were 
here  to  accomplish. 

54 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

Time  passed  and  I  saw  little  of  Theodore  Roosevelt 
until  he  became  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
I  went  over  to  the  gubernatorial  mansion,  which,  I  think, 
he  would  rather  have  preferred  to  be  called  his  home,  and 
as  I  stepped  up  to  him  I  said,  "  Governor,  do  you  recol- 
lect that  little  incident  when  you  were  in  Columbia  law 
school  and  I  came  with  one  Western  Starr  to  enlist 
your  aid  for  the  benefit  of  our  old  institution?  '*  He 
looked  at  me,  exposing  those  expressive  dentals,  and  said, 
''  I  most  assuredly  do.''  "  Why,"  he  said,  "  it  is  a  little 
bit  of  a  world,  anyway;  when  I  was  out  on  my  ranch, 
I  was  appointed  a  deputy  sheriff  and  I  arrested  a  horse 
thief  and  took  him  before  a  territorial  judge  and  who 
should  that  territorial  judge  be  but  our  old  friend.  West- 
em  Starr."  "  Now,"  he  continued,  **  if  you  had  only 
been  there  instead  of  the  horse  thief,  our  trio  would 
have  been  complete."     (Laughter.) 

Theodore  Roosevelt  was  bom  under  circumstances 
that  would  naturally  be  very  much  adverse  to  advance- 
ment along  the  lines  that  he  followed  in  after  life.  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt's  family  was  an  old  Dutch  Hugenot 
family  in  the  city  of  New  York,  occupying  a  social  posi- 
tion second  to  none,  and  having  wealth  enough  to  place 
Mr.  Roosevelt  in  the  very  first  circles  of  the  metropol- 
itan aristocracy.  But  he  lived  it  down.  (Laughter.) 
The  environment  of  the  home  was  one  of  culture  and 
refinement.  His  father  had  an  instinct  that  the  son 
inherited,  because  among  the  anecdotes  published  of  the 
elder  Roosevelt  none  reaches  further  out  to  the  human 
understanding  and  the  human  heart  than  that  he  devoted 
much  of  his  time   and   his  means  to  a  philanthropic 

55 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

project  that  had  for  its  object  the  rescuing  of  the  waifs 
from  the  streets  of  that  great  metropolis.  Ah,  there 
must  have  been  some  of  that  milk  of  human  kindness 
that  flowed  through  the  veins  of  the  boy  Theodore. 
Physically  weak;  describing  himself  as  rickety  and  asth- 
matic; he  received  his  early  training  through  the  medium 
of  a  tutor,  not  by  the  rough  and  tumble  of  the  public 
school  but  in  the  confines  of  a  loving,  luxurious,  refined 
home.  He  went  to  Harvard  college.  There  realizing 
his  impotence  physically,  he  bent  those  energies  that 
placed  him  in  the  White  House  to  building  up  a  consti- 
tution that  would  have  been  a  handicap  to  any  other 
young  man.  Oh!  I  often  think  how  easy  it  would  have 
been,  how  easy  along  the  lines  of  least  resistance,  for 
young  Roosevelt  to  have  dropped  gracefully  back  into 
the  social  environment  that  was  his;  been  quite  content 
to  spend  his  afternoons  amidst  the  soporific  surroundings 
of  the  five  o'clock  tea  and  find  his  excitement  in  the 
tango  that  would  have  given  him  just  enough  exercise 
and  not  overtaxed  his  physical  capacity;  how  he  could 
just  as  well  have  chased  the  aniseed  bag  over  the  fields 
of  Long  Island  rather  than  to  have  ridden  the  broncho 
on  the  plains  of  the  west.  It  would  have  been  so  easy; 
but  there  was  something  in  the  mental  makeup  of  the 
boy  and  the  man  that  kept  him  from  being  a  dilettante, 
that  made  him  the  hero  of  the  boys  of  America,  that 
made  him  the  man  whose  memory  we  honor  tonight. 
In  college,  not  renowned  for  his  successes,  reading  what 
he  loved  to  read,  an  omnivorous  admirer  of  American 
history,  a  great  reader  of  that  which  led  him  into  the 
paths  where  the  wild  animals  had  their  habitats,  a  natu- 

56 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

ralist,  a  botanist,  a  student  of  nature,  but  not  distin- 
guishing himself  in  the  classics  or  in  the  realms  of  litera- 
ture outside  of  those  lines  that  he  cared  to  pursue.  But 
he  was  making  the  most  of  himself;  he  was  feasting 
himself;  I  can  imagine  him  under  the  elms  of  Cambridge, 
drinking  in  the  spirit  of  Americanism ;  I  can  imagine  him 
in  Boston,  the  hub  of  the  universe,  filling  himself  with 
the  legends  of  his  countr^^;  I  can  imagine  him  reading 
the  lives  of  the  great  Americans  who  had  preceded  him 
in  those  holy  places  and  resolving  in  his  heart  of  hearts 
that  he,  too,  would  make  of  himself  something  of  which 
his  countr\^  might  be  proud. 

He  came  out  of  Har\'ard  university  and  made  his 
choice  of  the  tw^o  great  political  parties.  I  have  no 
fault  to  find  with  him  for  that.  It  was  just  at  that 
time  that  he  attracted  my  attention,  and  up  to  this 
ninth  day  of  February,  1919,  I  have  followed  him  step 
by  step  in  his  career  through  the  medium  of  the  public 
prints,  the  biographer,  and  the  word  of  mouth  of  the 
loving  friend.  I  had  some  aspirations  along  political 
lines  myself,  perhaps  not  as  high-minded  as  Theodore 
Roosevelt's,  perhaps  not  as  ambitious  as  his,  and  I  chose 
the  other  path.  He  took  the  "  high  road ''  and  I  took 
the  *'  low  road,"  and  I  am  traveling  it  yet.  (Laughter.) 
But  our  lives  ran  parallel  because  of  our  association  in 
the  law  school,  our  personal  acquaintance  in  those  years 
of  young  manhood  when  the  mind  is  shaping  itself  and 
the  ideals  are  bright  and  untarnished  by  contact  with 
the  world,  and  while  I  felt  that  he  was  wrong  politically, 
that  he  had  committed  an  error  of  judgment,  I  couldn't 
help  admiring  the  manner  in  which  he  got  away  with 

57 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

it.  (Laughter.)  And  so  year  by  year  I  followed  his 
career,  and  ah,  many  is  the  time  I  have  contrasted  my 
puny  efforts  with  his  magnificent  successes;  many  is  the 
time  I  have  said  to  myself:  "  If  I  could  only  make  the 
man  of  myself  that  my  classmate  and  friend,  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  has  made  of  himself;  if  I  could  leave  my  mark; 
if  I  could  press  my  feet  into  the  sands  of  time  that  there 
might  be  left  an  impression  that  nothing  should  oblit- 
erate; that  I  might  have  the  strength  and  the  force  of 
character  and  conscience  of  Theodore  Roosevelt."  And 
so  all  these  years  have  I  watched  his  successes. 

When  he  came  into  this  hall  of  legislation  he  came 
at  a  time  when  New  York  State  politics  —  and  I  speak 
it  with  all  due  reverence  to  both  Houses  of  this  Legis- 
lature, and  to  this  magnificent  structure,  sacred  to  the 
making  of  law  and  its  enforcement  —  when  New  York 
State  politics  had  reached  a  point  where  reform  was 
necessary  in  both  parties.  There  didn't  seem  to  be  a 
place  for  a  man  with  the  ideals  of  Theodore  Roosevelt, 
and  he  realized  it  himself.  And  there  was  one  thing 
about  his  politics  that  appealed  to  me;  it  was  the  sin- 
cerity of  it;  it  wasn't  self-seeking;  it  wasn't  that  kind  of 
politics  that  makes  a  man  untrue  to  himself,  and  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt  fought  what  he  believed  to  be  the  worst 
elements  in  both  the  great  political  parties,  and  the 
people  began  to  see  that  he  had  the  courage  of  his  con- 
victions and  they  accorded  him  the  respect  that  was 
his  due,  and  finally  the  great  party  to  which  he  belonged 
mentioned  him  for  the  honorable  position  of  Speaker  of 
this  House.  And  so  he  went  from  one  success  to  another. 
I  am  to  be  followed  by  a  most  eloquent  speaker,  far 

58 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

more  competent  to  deal  with  the  life  and  times  of  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt  than  I  am,  and  I  shall  not  trespass  long; 
I  shall  not  endeavor  to  give  you  anything  like  a  recapit- 
ulation of  the  life  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  simply  sum- 
marize it. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  police  commission  in  the 
city  of  New  York  —  president  of  it.  Finding  New  York 
city  in  a  condition  as  a  municipality  where  the  enforce- 
ment of  law  along  certain  lines  had  become  more  honored 
in  the  breach  than  in  the  observance,  without  any  regard 
for  what  effect  it  might  have  upon  his  political  future, 
Theodore  Roosevelt  obeyed  the  dictates  of  his  conscience 
and  applied  himself  to  the  morale  of  the  police  force  of 
that  great  city.  His  history  as  a  member  of  that  board 
is  well  known  to  everyone  who  has  read,  but  it  must 
have  given  him  a  marvelous  knowledge  of  human  nature. 
I  cannot  conceive  of  a  position  that  would  have  brought 
a  man  of  his  mental  calibre  and  physical  attributes  into 
closer  contact  with  the  very  elements  that  he  needed  to 
mold  him  than  the  police  force  of  the  city  of  New  York 
in  the  years  of  which  he  was  a  member  of  the  board. 

United  States  Civil  Service  Commissioner.  Civil 
service  that  once  was  denominated  by  a  great  states- 
man as  ** snivel  service"  but  Theodore  Roosevelt  never 
viewed  it  that  way;  it  was  civil  service  to  him.  It  meant 
that  the  men  for  the  positions  should  be  the  men  fitted 
for  them  and  not  the  men  with  the  pull.  And  so  as  a 
member  of  the  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission 
he  covered  himself  with  glory  because  he  continued  to 
obey  the  dictates  of  his  conscience  and  live  up  to  his 
ideals. 

59 


Theodore    Rooseveit 

I  think  as  I  look  back  upon  it  now,  as  we  approach 
the  twelfth  day  of  February,  and  I  recall  those  lines 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  loved  so  well  — 

Oh,  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud; 
Like  a  swift-glancing  meteor,  a  fast-flying  cloud, 
A  flash  of  the  lightning,  a  break  of  the  wave; 
He  passes  from  life  to  his  rest  in  the  grave. 

they  seem  to  me  to  typify  the  career  of  this  great  man  — 
"  a  swift-glancing  meteor,*'  "  a  fast-flying  cloud,"  **  a 
flash  of  the  lightning,"  symbols  of  his  career.  Not  the 
cloistered  hearth,  not  the  withdrawal  from  touch  with 
humanity  to  the  quiet  and  seclusion  of  the  study,  but 
the  hurly-burly,  the  fight,  everlasting  fight  and  grapple 
with  the  things  of  evil  to  the  betterment  of  that  great 
country  he  loved  so  well. 

Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York  —  this  great 
Empire  State  with  all  the  complexities  of  government 
that  surround  one  in  that  exalted  station  —  wealth,  labor, 
anarchy,  social  preferments;  all  sorts  and  kinds  of  influ- 
ences being  brought  to  bear  to  sway  the  mind  of  the 
chief  executive,  and  he  held  himself  steady  and  not  one 
blot  upon  the  escutcheon. 

Assistant  secretary  of  the  United  States  Navy.  Why, 
they  say  of  him  when  he  assumed  that  post  that  he  went 
to  Congress  and  said:  *'  I  want  eight  million  dollars  for 
powder."  They  knew  his  enthusiasm  and  said:  "  What 
do  you  want  with  eight  million  dollars  for  powder?  " 
"  I  want  to  teach  the  boys  to  shoot."  And  they  gave 
him  the  eight  million  dollars,  and  he  came  back  and 
said:  "  I  want  five  million  more."  Perhaps  my  figures 
are  wrong,  but  the  newspaper  boys  will  correct  me. 

60 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

However,  it  was  a  very  large  sum  and  he  came  back  for 
the  second  sum,  and  they  said:  "  Why,  have  you  shot 
that  powder  all  away?  '*  "  Yes,  it  is  shot  away  and  to 
good  purpose."  "All  right,"  and  he  got  the  second 
appropriation.  Well,  what  has  been  the  result  in  the 
years  just  passed?  When  our  navy  sailed  the  blue  waters 
and  lined  herself  up  with  Great  Britain's  magnificent 
representation  on  the  high  seas,  our  boys  shot  true,  our 
boys  shot  home,  our  boys  were  prepared  to  annihilate 
their  enemies  because  back  in  Theodore  Roosevelt's 
time  he  burned  up  the  powder  to  teach  them  how  to 
do  it. 

President  of  these  United  States.  Ah,  the  greatest 
gift  in  the  choice  of  any  people.  President  of  these 
United  States  —  a  career  that  sometimes  starts  on  the 
towpath,  not  often  in  the  drawing-room.  The  first  presi- 
dent of  these  United  States  to  realize  the  iniquitous  use 
that  was  being  made  of  wealth  by  corporations  that 
were  unmoral,  by  corporations  that  were  dealing  unlaw- 
fully, by  corporations  that  were  banded  together  for  pur- 
poses that  worked  evil  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  the 
man  who  had  been  out  on  the  plains  and  busted  the 
broncho  became  the  "  trust-buster  "  of  the  United  States. 
And  then  and  there  his  heart  went  out  to  mankind, 
those  yearnings  toward  the  plain  people  he  loved  so  well, 
and  all  sorts  and  kinds  of  labor  legislation  were  dear 
to  him.  Federal  bills  for  amelioration  of  the  working 
men  were  his  constant  care,  and  he  didn't  do  it  in  the 
spirit  of  demagogy;  he  didn't  do  it  to  make  votes;  he 
didn't  do  it  to  advance  himself;  he  did  it  because  he  was 
true  to  himself  and  wanted  to  ''do  things." 

61 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

But  as  I  look  back  over  his  career,  and  I  sketch 
it  in  such  broad  lines  tonight,  there  is  one  other  element 
in  his  presidential  experience  that  appeals  to  me  with 
peculiar  force  because  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  the 
father  of  legislation  in  the  interests  of  the  little  ones, 
what  is  called  "  child  labor  legislation."  I  sat  in  the 
anteroom  tonight  before  I  came  into  this  rostrum  and 
I  heard  the  chairman  of  the  committee  tell  an  ancedote 
of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  how  he  was  going  to  luncheon 
with  a  very  distinguished  statesman  and  walking  down 
Broadway  he  saw  a  Httle  urchin  crying  his  heart  out, 
and  he  said  to  his  friend:  **  Wait  a  moment."  And  he 
gathered  the  little  one  up  and  asked:  ''What  is  the 
matter?  "  And  he  found  the  little  one  was  lost.  The 
president  of  the  United  States  gathered  the  little  one  in 
his  arms  and  took  him  to  the  nearest  police  station  and 
found  the  frenzied  father  and  mother  and  restored  the 
little  one.  Just  typical,  just  an  illustration  of  the  great 
heart  and  the  utter  simplicity  of  the  man  and  it  was  that 
instinct  that  made  him  see  the  rotten  injustice  of  the 
little  fellow  with  the  great  white  plague  working  in  his 
system  down  underground  in  the  coal  mines  from  early 
mom  until  late  at  night,  following  the  mule  up  and 
down  the  tramway;  and  the  other  little  one  of  the  factory 
behind  the  loom  of  the  south  or  north,  I  care  not  which 
side  of  Mason-Dixon's  line  it  was,  with  his  little  lungs 
filled  with  lint,  with  his  little  eyes  glazed  with  watching 
the  warp  and  woof  of  the  cloth  before  him,  never  seeing 
God's  blue  sky,  or  listening  to  the  birds  singing,  or 
running  about  with  his  playmates  and  playing  duck-on- 
the-rock,  leap  frog,  and  all  those  concomitants  of  the 

62 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

natural  American  boy.  He  saw  the  needs  of  those  little 
ones,  and  I  hope  his  mantle  will  fall  on  someone  in 
authority  in  these  days  of  1919. 

You  cannot  make  heroes;  you  cannot  make  boys  in 
khaki;  you  cannot  make  strong  men  and  women  out  of 
the  puny,  ill-nourished,  undeveloped  children  of  America. 
Those  efforts  will  always  stand  out  in  the  history  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt  as  significant  of  his  character. 

I  mustn't  use  up  all  the  material;  I  cannot;  I  might 
draw  on  your  patience  until  much  later  than  this  and 
I  would  have  given  you  but  the  most  sketchy  idea  of  the 
life  and  work  of  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

I  come  now  to  what  seems  to  me  to  be  the  tragedy 
of  his  life.  On  the  eleventh  day  of  November  last  we  all 
joined  in  the  shouts  of  joy  and  the  ringing  of  bells  and  the 
tooting  of  whistles  and  the  demonstration  which  said 
the  armistice  was  signed,  the  war  over,  and  the  great 
conflict  of  1914-18  at  an  end.  Yes,  it  was  at  an  end. 
And  that  recalls  another  incident  in  the  career  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt. 

When  Theodore  Roosevelt  came  back  from  his 
African  explorations  he  had  a  triumphal  progress  through 
Europe,  and  among  the  incidents  that  marked  that 
progress  was  the  fact  that  the  Imperial  German  Emperor 
invited  him  to  join  him  on  his  staff  and  they  sat,  side 
by  side,  on  their  mettlesome  steeds  at  a  review  of  the 
Prussian  guards.  But  Emperor  Wilhelm  will  never  see 
Theodore  Roosevelt  again.    (Laughter.) 

The  armistice  was  signed;  the  war  was  over,  but 
Theodore  Roosevelt  was  not  president  of  the  United 
States.     In  my  mind's  eye  I  can  see  that  loving  father, 

63 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

that  great-hearted  citizen,  that  ambitious  man,  in  his 
study  at  Sagamore  Hill.  I  can  see  the  expression  of  his 
face  as  he  listens  to  the  wild  clamor  that  said  the  war 
was  over  and  the  boys  were  coming  home,  and  he  not 
president  of  these  great  United  States  he  loved  so  well. 
During  the  conflict,  and  as  victory  became  apparent, 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  out  of  the  bitterness  that  may  have 
come  to  him  in  those  silent  hours  of  contemplation,  gave 
expression  to  words  that  I  myself  in  public  have  criticized, 
and  now  that  he  has  gone  to  his  rest  I  am  sorry  for. 
I  say  that  even  as  Moses  after  leading  the  children  of 
Israel  out  of  the  house  of  bondage  came  in  sight  of  the 
Promised  Land  and  from  the  heights  of  Nebo's  lonely 
mountain  looked  over  into  the  fields  and  pastures  where 
he  never  could  wander,  so  the  great  heart  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt  must  have  felt  when  he  saw  this  beloved 
country  victor  in  the  World  War,  and  he  not  at  the  head 
of  its  affairs.  And  I  believe  the  recording  angel  will 
drop  a  tear  upon  the  book  and  blot  out  forever  any 
unworthy  expression  that  Theodore  Roosevelt  ever  may 
have  uttered  under  the  stress  of  the  times  that  followed 
the  lowering  of  the  German  standard. 

Aye,  and  the  end  came.  The  end  came  as  I  think 
he  would  like  to  have  had  it  come.  We  speak  of  him 
as  **  Our  President,"  but  the  masses  speak  of  him  as 
''  Teddy;"  we  speak  of  him  as  the  man  who  has  received 
the  adulation  of  his  own  fellow  countrymen  and  that 
of  the  peoples  of  Europe,  but  we  remember  him  as  the 
broncho-buster,  as  the  man  who  rode  across  the  plains 
in  search  of  big  game.  We  give  him  all  the  glory  and 
honor  that  is  due  him  for  the  exalted  stations  he  has 

64 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

occupied,  but  that  which  knits  him  to  us  with  hooks  of 
steel  is  his  humanity.  When  the  end  came  it  was  not 
with  bulletins  signed  by  eminent  surgeons  giving  pulse, 
temperature  and  respiration,  it  was  in  the  still  watches 
of  the  night  that  he  laid  down  his  armor  and  the 
armistice  was  com.plete. 

I  can  see  in  my  mind's  eye  a  great  concourse 
of  people,  and  they  are  wending  their  way  toward 
Sagamore  Hill  and  the  modest  cemetery  at  Oyster  Bay. 
They  come  to  pay  their  tribute  to  Theodore  Roosevelt, 
dead.  And  in  the  midst  of  his  plot  there  rises  the  white 
pole  that  marks  every  little  red  school-house  the  country 
over,  and  at  the  peak  of  the  pole  there  flies  the  thirteen 
bars  and  the  forty-eight  stars  he  loved  so  well,  and  in 
a  tree  top  at  one  side  of  this  plot  a  big,  full-throated, 
red-breasted  robin  sings  its  song  while  this  great  con- 
course of  American  people,  of  plain  people,  wend  their 
way.  As  they  pass  the  spot,  they  see  it  marked  by 
a  rugged  granite  block, —  ''how  firm  a  foundation," — 
and  one  side  of  it  is  polished  that  it  may  bear  an 
inscription,  and  chiselled  there  in  the  plainest  form  of 
script  that  he  who  runs  may  read,  are  the  simple  words : 
**  Teddy,  the  American."     (Applause.) 

Selection — ''Beautiful  Isle  of  Somewhere,"  by  the 
quartet. 

BEAUTIFUL  ISLE  OF  SOMEWHERE 

Somewhere  the  sun  is  shining, 
Somewhere  the  song-birds  dwell; 
Hush,  then,  thy  sad  repining; 
God  lives  and  all  is  well. 

65 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

Somewhere,  somewhere, 

Beautiful  Isle  of  Somewhere! 

Land  of  the  true,  where  we  live  anew  — 

Beautiful  Isle  of  Somewhere! 

Somewhere  the  day  is  longer. 
Somewhere  the  task  is  done; 
Somewhere  the  heart  is  stronger, 
Somewhere  the  guerdon  won. 

Somewhere  the  load  is  lifted. 
Close  by  an  open  gate; 
Somewhere  the  clouds  are  rifted, 
Somewhere  the  angels  wait. 

The  Chairman:  Chancellor  Day  of  the  University 
of  Syracuse. 

Address  by  Chancellor  James  Roscoe  Day 

If  ten  years  ago  any  one  had  told  me  that  on  this 
9th  day  of  February  I  would  be  found  in  our  State  Capitol 
by  your  request  delivering  an  eulogy  of  Theodore  Roose- 
velt, I  would  not  have  been  impressed  with  his  gift  of 
prophecy ! 

But  that  is  Theodore  Roosevelt.  He  was  an 
impossible  man  doing  impossible  things  as  no  other  men 
could  do  them.  You  differed  with  him  deeply  and 
radically.  And  you  did  not  change  your  convictions, 
but  you  found  that  you  had  not  been  in  conflict  with 
him  but  with  something  incidental  to  him.  Some  men's 
opinions  are  all  there  is  of  them.  One  opinion  and  you 
have  the  whole  man.  With  Roosevelt  a  conviction  or 
a  doctrine  was  an  incident.  While  you  were  fighting  that 
doctrine  he  was  away  into  volumes  of  others  leaving  you 

66 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

to  go  on  with  your  contentions.  He  was  infinitely  more 
than  an  article  of  his  economic  or  political  creed.  You 
could  not  contend  with  such  a  man.  Your  controversy 
was  not  with  him. 

How  to  appreciate  such  a  man  in  just  proportions 
is  an  almost  impossible  task. 

No  man  lived  a  life  more  exposed  to  the  public  eye. 
He  never  whispered.  But  men  were  always  blundering 
about  his  motives  and  the  wisdom  of  his  bold,  uncom- 
promising utterances.  Where  to  stand  to  measure  him 
is  the  question.  There  is  a  position  among  the  Himalayas 
where  vast  mountains  arise  before  you.  One  of  them 
is  so  far  distant  that  you  see  only  its  summit.  It  is  the 
highest  of  the  mighty  range.  But  you  can  see  only  its 
crown  against  the  sky.  You  cannot  see  where  it  con- 
nects with  the  earth  or  what  its  bases  are.  Another 
is  so  near  that  it  overwhelms  you  and  you  lose  all  power 
of  measurement.  The  first  is  the  highest  mountain  in 
all  Asia  if  not  in  the  world.  The  second  is  but  little 
less  but  it  fills  the  valley  out  of  which  it  springs  with 
a  suddenness  that  confuses  thought  and  is  appalling. 

Washington  is  that  mountain  now  distant  with  its 
base  in  tradition.  Roosevelt  is  the  moimtain  that  fills 
the  valley  before  you  and  is  radiant  with  refracted  and 
changing  light.  What  he  is  will  be  the  subject  of  varying 
opinions  and  discussions  as  men  see  the  earth  connections 
all  visible  and  the  far  summit  towering  above  them  in  the 
clouds,  refracting  colors  differing  to  each  angle  of  vision. 

There  is  too  much  of  Roosevelt  and  there  are  too 
many  vividly  related  phases  of  his  unusual  personality 
for  one  to  discuss  philosophically  his  great  character, 

67 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

much  less  his  work  as  a  legislator,  a  soldier  and  the 
chief  executive  of  his  great  State  and  the  nation. 

No  one  fully  competent  has  presented  Theodore 
Roosevelt  to  the  world  in  outline.  Certain  traits  were 
so  bold  and  outstanding  that  all  could  discover  them  as 
he  hurried  past  in  the  rush  of  his  impetuous  course. 
But  it  will  be  years  before  this  marvelous  man  will  stand 
out  in  the  symmetry  and  harmony  of  all  the  traits  of  his 
character  and  activity  that  have  seemed  to  many  of  us 
sometimes  conflicting  and  inconsistent. 

To  measure  force  requires  most  delicate  instruments 
and  great  skill.  To  know  men  in  themselves  and  in  the 
influence  of  their  education,  companionship  and  sur- 
roundings is  a  task  that  often  has  to  be  handed  over 
to  generations. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  was  a  man  with  whom  no  one  could 
agree  in  all  things  and  with  whom  many  disagreed  in 
everything.  He  outstrode  thinking  men.  The  conser- 
vative men  could  not  keep  pace  with  him.  He  violated 
traditions  one  minute  and  the  next  was  the  reverent 
defender  of  the  men  who  created  them.  He  betrayed  his 
party  one  hour  and  the  next  was  at  its  head,  the  idolized 
leader  and  defender. 

Sometimes  he  attacked  constituted  forms  with 
violence,  but  he  restrained  his  wrath  when  demagogues 
threatened  disaster.  He  made  no  use  of  anything  in  his 
reformatory  efforts  for  merely  personal  political  purposes 
and  sometimes  went  too  far  in  defiance  of  temporizing 
politics. 

Study  Mr.  Roosevelt  over  a  space  of  sufficient 
breadth  and  length  and  the  conflicts  of  his  personality 

68 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

harmonize.  There  were  certain  traits  that  were  high 
peaks  in  the  range  of  his  character.  They  must  be 
studied  above  the  common  level. 

He  had  great  force.  And  men  like  force.  The 
timid  man  shrinks  from  it  when  it  has  no  visible  orbit 
or  is  not  nmning  on  steel  rails  bolted  down  to  a  secure 
roadway.  But  the  average  man  likes  force.  That  is 
why  he  chances  the  ditch  and  death  in  a  motor  car  or 
a  two  thousand  feet  fall  from  an  aeroplane.  And  force 
brings  things  to  pass.  It  does  not  stop,  fortunately  does 
not,  because  of  a  wreck  in  the  ditch  or  a  fall  from  the 
clouds.  But  there  is  force  in  established  orbits,  when  it 
has  taken  form"  and  retained  energy,  where  it  has  come 
out  of  star  mist  and  is  a  sun. 

Colonel  Roosevelt  had  force  well  in  hand.  It  was  an 
endowment.  It  was  not  idly  expended,  if  sometimes  it 
seemed  erratic.  It  did  not  exhaust  those  who  came  in 
contact  with  it.  Its  expression  was  greatest  in  himself. 
It  m.ade  him  impatient  with  Taft's  slow  and  judicial 
statesmanship  and  Wilson's  **  single-track  mind  "  which 
worked  on  a  schedule  of  "  waiting  and  watching." 

But  it  was  a  tremendous  magnet.  No  man  drew 
such  crowds  without  arts  or  tricks  on  all  occasions. 
They  rallied  to  him  instinctively.  Whether  you  agreed 
with  him  or  not,  he  agreed  with  himself.  And  you  found 
it  difficult  to  get  away  from  his  forcible  thinking. 

He  walked  with  a  firm  stride.  He  chopped  a  tree 
like  a  lumber  jack  on  a  wager.  He  liked  a  horse  that 
would  throw  a  good  rider.  You  never  heard  of  his 
hunting  partridges.  He  hunted  lions  and  tigers.  The 
brook  trout  did  not  beguile  him.    He  fished  for  tarpon 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

and  shark.  Is  it  a  wonder  that  the  virile  manhood  of 
America  followed  such  a  leader?  They  could  disagree 
with  him.,  but  they  were  forced  by  force  to  follow  him. 

Had  he  been  president  when  Germany  threatened 
little  heroic  Belgium,  a  challenge  would  have  been  hurled 
across  the  ocean  that  would  have  prevented  the  war, 
or  if  not  we  would  have  closed  it  two  years  sooner. 
Germany  needed  a  friend  like  Theodore  Roosevelt,  who 
would  have  warned  her  of  the  peril  of  her  insane  madness 
in  rushing  into  war  against  the  civilized  world  and  who 
would  not  have  dallied  an  hour  in  preparation  for  the 
defense  of  civilization  and  of  the  firesides  of  all  lands. 
His  defense  would  have  begun  before  the  war  began. 

Colonel  Roosevelt  was  a  courageous  man  and  the 
people  like  courage.  It  was  not  a  blustering  courage. 
It  was  not  braggadocio.  There  was  no  swagger  about  it. 
Its  highest  test  was  in  the  face  of  dissenting  public 
opinion.  It  never  flinched  in  the  face  of  the  clamor  of 
politics. 

What  is  right?  What  ought  to  be  done?  It  might 
not  always  be  right  as  subsequent  events  proved,  but  to 
him  with  the  light  he  had  it  was  right.  That  was  enough. 
It  is  certain  that  men  whether  in  political  agreement  or 
political  opposition  conceded  his  courage.  He  was 
incapable  of  making  the  mistake  of  the  trimmer.  He 
never  cultivated  his  fortunes  or  popular  favor  at  the 
expense  of  his  manhood.  It  is  a  fatal  mistake  which  has 
defeated  many  a  great  man  who  was  great  in  all  but  his 
courage.  The  people  are  always  sensitive  to  this  char- 
acteristic. It  is  as  useless  as  the  habit  of  the  ostrich  in 
putting  his  head  in  the  sand  to  escape  his  pursuers. 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

The  people  will  excuse  mistakes  but  they  have 
contempt  for  a  coward. 

The  man  who  dodges  his  vote,  who  hides  his  con- 
victions lest  some  one  disagree  with  him,  is  always 
detected  and  quickly  relegated  to  the  rear.  Respect 
a  man  who  honestly  disagrees  with  you.  Despise  a  man 
who  is  afraid  of  you. 

Roosevelt's  courage  was  an  element  of  strength. 
It  was  courage  to  defend  an  opinion  and  it  was  courage  to 
correct  a  mistake.  Moral  courage  is  greater  than  physical 
courage.  *'  You  are  scared,"  said  a  soldier  to  a  fellow 
soldier  whom  he  saw  white  and  trembling  as  the  battle 
began.  "  Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "  if  you  were  as  scared 
as  I  am  you  would  run." 

When  Roosevelt  was  about  to  give  an  interview  on 
the  piratical  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  an  intimate  friend 
who  wanted  him  to  answer  deliberately  suggested  that 
there  were  four  hundred  thousand  German  votes  in  this 
country.  Aroused  he  said,  "If  there  were  four  million 
I  would  condemn  this  fiendish  act! "  And  he  gave  out 
that  phillipic  which  awoke  the  land  to  war. 

He  was  clean.  No  bribe  stuck  to  his  hand.  And 
the  people  like  that.  His  domestic  life  required  no 
apology.  There  were  never  whispers  of  impure  liaisons 
in  his  neighborhood.  He  never  led  two  lives,  nor  had 
two  homes.  His  personal  life  required  no  explanation 
nor  apology.  When  he  was  away  from  home  his  face 
was  always  set  homeward  and  you  could  no  more  face 
him  in  other  directions  than  you  could  change  the  instinct 
of  a  carrier  pigeon.  And  the  people  like  that.  Domestic 
impurity  and  infidelity  is  the  dry  rot  of  society  and  states. 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

The  pure  home  is  the  foundation  of  civilization.  It  has 
been  tremendously  emphasized  in  the  late  war,  when 
virtue  has  been  made  the  merchandise  of  a  country  that 
started  out  to  spread  its  kultur  over  the  world  by  rapine 
and  the  pitiless  sword.  The  noblest  thing  about  Roose- 
velt is  his  home  life.     It  was  a  holy  example. 

Another  trait  was  the  buoyancy,  fullness  and 
exuberance  of  his  life.  No  man  enjoyed  life  more.  And 
the  people  like  that.  You  may  say  that  it  was  a  radiancy 
of  health.  We  might  think  so  but  for  the  last  two  or 
three  years  of  fatal  illness.  Coming  or  going  from  the 
hospital,  wrenched  with  rheumatic  pains,  burning  with 
fever,  he  was  always  feeling  "  bully."  It  is  a  great  thing 
in  this  world  of  so  many  ills  and  misfortunes  and  sorrows 
if  one  can  carry  hope  on  the  outside  and  let  any  remnant 
of  happiness  shine  through. 

No  one  can  tell  the  agony  of  that  solitary  sorrow 
when  a  grave  was  made  on  a  foreign  battlefield.  But  he 
did  not  ask  his  fellow  man  to  help  him  carry  it.  He 
carried  no  emblem  of  death.  He  asked  for  more  things 
to  do,  to  think  about,  and  to  say. 

He  said  that  he  could  not  expect  that  four  sons  could 
go  into  war  with  the  peril  of  high  explosives  and  all 
return.  It  was  the  measure  of  his  prompt  sacrifice.  An 
unspeakable  cur  kindled  his  wrath  when  he  said  that 
those  boys  were  protected  in  safe  positions  by  their 
father's  influence.  But  the  cloud  soon  passed  and  he 
was  driving  on,  giving  his  own  life  to  force  that  war  to 
its  conclusions  by  matching  his  pen  against  the  sword. 

We  will  not  ask  why  such  a  man  was  not  used  in 
such  a  war,  why  he  was  denied  the  privilege  of  some 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

active  place  at  the  front  or  in  helpful  counsel  when  clear 
thinking  and  prompt  action  were  demanded.  The 
American  people  do  their  own  thinking  and  as  a  rule 
they  think  correctly.  The  answer  will  come  and  be 
written  in  letters  that  will  bum  the  shame  where  it  belongs. 

He  must  be  an  intensely  narrow  partisan  who  does 
not  feel  the  loss  that  has  fallen  upon  his  country  by  the 
death  of  ex-President  Roosevelt. 

The  man  we  have  hastily  sketched,  a  statesman  of 
such  prescient  vision  and  superb  loyalty  and  courage,  was 
tremendously  needed  in  his  own  land  in  a  time  when 
latent  Bolshevism  and  slumbering  Red  Socialism  could  be 
held  in  restraint  only  by  men  of  the  type  of  Colonel 
Roosevelt  and  men  of  whom  he  was  the  acknowledged 
captain. 

It  is  an  hour  that  calls  for  brave  men,  wise  men, 
American  men  without  a  taint  or  a  remote  mixture  in 
their  loyalty  and  with  consecration  to  the  principles  of 
our  fathers  and  mothers.  Never  have  we  needed  as  now  a 
recrudescence  of  the  old-time  Americanism  that  has  been 
overgrown  with  the  poison  ivy  of  imported  destructive 
thought  and  teachings  of  the  ignorant  that  threaten 
to  choke  and  destroy  its  life.  We  need  him  to  lead  in 
the  readjustment  of  our  labor  economy. 

We  had  looked  to  Colonel  Roosevelt  as  the  man 
whom  the  remnant  of  thinking  men  would  follow  and 
whose  clear  voice  would  restrain  the  mad  hordes  plunging 
on  behind  the  red  flag  they  know  not  why,  a  man  who 
would  not  sacrifice  his  flag  to  his  personal  ambition, 
a  man  whose  words  weighed  with  the  artisan  and  the 
working  man  because  he  never  used  them  but  always 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

served  them,  a  man  who  in  his  one  own  personality 
would  outnumber  the  thousands  of  riotous  brutes,  Hun- 
like in  their  instincts,  seeking  to  apply  the  torch  to  the 
foundations  of  all  government  and  law. 

That  task  to  save  our  land  and  country  is  upon  us 
without  a  leader.  Striking  evidences  warn  us  that  our 
laborers  must  be  kept  within  bounds  of  citizenship  and 
under  self-restraint.  That  cannot  be  done  by  the  political 
cunning  and  chicanery  that  plays  our  government  into 
the  hands  of  any  class  at  the  price  of  its  service  at  the 
polls. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  never  magnified  day  labor  above  all 
forms  of  labor.  He  held  it  to  its  responsibility.  The 
peril  that  has  been  increased  in  the  past  few  years  has 
been  in  exalting  the  working  man's  labor  into  the  chief 
if  not  the  only  place  of  labor.  As  though  none  of  the 
rest  of  us  labor  and  as  if  there  were  no  problems  except 
to  fill  the  working  man's  dinner  pail!  It  is  doubtless 
true  that  the  working  man  has  not  always  received  his 
proportion  of  the  world's  incomes  and  profits.  And  it  is 
equally  true  that  transportation  and  business  have 
suffered  losses  and  depreciation  which  if  not  remedied 
will  leave  the  laborer  with  an  empty  dinner  pail.  Busi- 
ness, capital,  are  the  only  sources  from  which  he  can 
fill  his  pail, —  unless  he  steals  and  robs  and  kills  as  red- 
tongued  and  red-flagged  socialism  proposes  to  do,  and 
that  would  last  only  imtil  business  is  destroyed.  Then 
what  hope  would  be  left  to  any  man,  rich  or  poor? 

There  is  no  question  that  business  has  been  guilty 
of  profiteering  the  past  two  years.  Much  of  it  has  taken 
high  prices  simply  because  it  could.     It  has  forced  up 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

the  cost  of  living  without  any  justification.  It  has 
turned  business  in  some  cases  into  a  den  of  thieves. 
When  any  man  takes  a  price  simply  because  he  can  get 
it,  and  from  a  man  who  is  unable  to  pay  it,  he  is  a 
thief. 

But  this  has  not  been  done  by  manufacturers  and 
merchants  only.  It  has  been  done  by  the  honest,  homy- 
handed  farmer  who  raises  wheat  and  com  and  cattle, — 
though  he  usually  suffers  both  at  the  beginning  and  the 
ending  of  high  prices.  He  is  the  victim  of  the  packer 
and  the  mill  man  who  buys  his  wheat  and  sells  him  his 
grain,  and  of  the  middleman  who  takes  a  hundred  per 
cent  of  profit  for  marketing  his  milk  and  his  farm  produce. 

It  is  plain  enough  that  we  are  in  swiftly  increasing 
currents  of  a  whirlpool  where  we  need  a  leader  to  reverse 
the  order  of  things,  to  place  the  labor  of  the  laboring  man 
in  the  list  with  the  labor  of  the  professional  man,  the 
merchant  and  the  manufacturer,  and  make  him  take  his 
chances  with  them,  and  stop  the  political  caudle  which 
places  him  at  the  top  and  all  others  at  the  bottom  and 
robs  the  railroad,  the  steamship  and  all  forms  of  business 
to  keep  him  there.  Men  in  the  Legislature  and  in  Congress 
and  in  great  official  positions  have  been  doing  our  land 
immense  mischief  because  they  lacked  the  rugged  stamina 
and  wide-seeing  statesmanship  to  maintain,  at  any  political 
cost,  sound  economic  proportions  and  order.  They  have 
turned  the  country  upside  down  and  placed  the  labor 
imions  on  top.  That  is  disastrous  to  labor  and  ruinous 
to  any  country.  You  cannot  nm  a  wagon  with  the 
wheels  on  top.  The  axles  are  as  important  as  the  wheels. 
The  wheels  can  carry  nothing  without  the  axles.    The 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

whole  must  harmonize  in  proper  proportions  and  logical 
relations.  It  is  a  fatal  thing  when  labor  and  capital 
pull  apart.    It  is  tearing  the  wagon  to  pieces. 

We  want  the  artisan  and  day  labor  working  man  to 
have  all  the  wage  that  business  can  pay  him  for  an 
honest  day's  work.  The  more  he  has  the  better  home 
he  will  have  and  the  happier  wife  he  will  have  and  the 
better  educated  and  better  citizens  his  children  will 
become  and  the  better  country  we  will  have.  Capital 
cannot  afford  not  to  pay  him  all  that  the  business  will 
pay  him  and  leave  a  paying  profit  to  the  investments, 
the  risks,  the  toil  and  wear  and  tear  of  the  business. 
I  want  him  to  have  reasonably  short  hours  and  reasonably 
long  wages,  but  I  want  him  to  give  an  equivalent  and  be 
a  man,  an  American  man,  a  safe  and  useful  citizen. 
That  man  and  I  are  neighbors.  We  vote  at  the  same 
poll.  I  work  at  the  university  where  I  beg  money  to 
educate  his  sons  and  daughters  and  I  am  proud  of  them. 
But  I  hate  and  abhor  the  labor  that  would  overturn 
business  which  it  could  neither  create  nor  manage,  that 
would  smash  machinery,  kill  men,  starve  and  freeze 
communities  to  force  increase  of  wages  or  the  recognition 
of  his  organization  as  I  do  the  Hun's  mode  of  warfare 
and  rapine. 

The  laborer  should  be  content  with  the  reward  of 
his  own  labors  and  not  insist  upon  the  income  that 
belongs  to  the  investments  of  his  neighbor.  The  recent 
suggestion  that  the  government  should  purchase  the 
railroads  and  the  laboring  men  should  run  them  on  shares 
with  the  government,  and  if  there  is  a  deficiency  it  should 
be  covered  by  taxing  the  people,  is  crude  enough  and 

76 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

idiotic  enough  for  the  Bolsheviki.  It  does  not  sound  like 
the  utterance  of  American  citizens. 

One  man  may  be  as  good  as  another,  one  man  is 
as  free  as  another.  But  one  man  is  not  as  important 
as  another.  One  man  offers  the  work  of  his  hands  and 
he  is  important  if  intelligent,  industrious  and  faithful. 
Another  man  has  by  superior  ability  secured  and  saved 
thousands  of  dollars  of  money.  He  may  have  justly 
inherited  it.  This  man  offers  his  great  ability  and  the 
money  he  has  saved  equal  perhaps  to  a  hundred  or 
a  thousand  men.  He  has  a  right  to  greater  pay  in 
proportion  to  what  the  supplies.  And  he  works  harder 
than  the  man  who  works  only  with  his  hands,  works 
earlier  and  later  and  with  anxiety  the  other  man  does  not 
know. 

Our  country  needs  as  never  before  a  supreme  leader 
to  set  in  order  business  men  and  working  men  that  each 
may  have  a  just  appreciation  of  the  other  and  that  all 
may  secure  to  all  liberty  of  action.  We  thought  we 
had  that  man  in  Theodore  Roosevelt.  It  is  a  frightful 
arena  for  the  demagogue  of  destructive  socialism  and 
Bolshevism.  It  is  no  time  for  the  coward  and  the  trimmer. 
It  is  the  hour  of  o^or  supreme  peril.  Every  man  without 
regard  to  party  politics  must  have  trembled  when  they 
told  us  that  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  dead.  Labor  lost 
an  intelligent,  fearless  friend.  Our  country  lost  a  great 
leader  in  its  most  perilous  field. 

It  is  a  time  when  Colonel  Roosevelt  was  saying  some 
vigorous  and  statesmanlike  words  with  regard  to  our 
world-wide  problems.  They  were  wholesome.  They 
centered    on    our    own    country.    They    contemplated 

77 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

safety  first  for  America.  They  looked  to  the  future  of 
America.  They  remembered  Washington's  caution 
against  foreign  entanglements. 

The  great  and  first  problems  over  there  today  is 
the  relation  to  one  another  of  adjacent  lands  recently 
at  war.  That  takes  precedence  over  the  League  of 
Nations.  The  first  question  is  the  settlement  of  new 
boundaries,  indemnities  and  guarantees  of  safety  to 
invaded  countries.  Those  are  live  questions,  and 
immensely  practical,  to  be  settled  by  nations  concerned. 

How  far  are  we  called  upon  to  mix  in  them?  What 
have  we  to  do  with  running  boundary  lines  between 
Poland  and  Czecho-Slovak,  or  Jugo-Slav  and  Italy, 
or  in  the  new  republics  of  Germany  and  Austria?  What 
business  have  we  with  the  amount  of  indemnity  to  be 
paid  by  Germany  to  England,  or  to  France,  or  to  Belgium 
or  to  Italy?  It  seems  to  me  we  have  absolutely  no 
business  with  these  questions,  but  should  come  home 
tomorrow  so  far  as  they  are  concerned.  I  do  not  object 
to  our  going  over  the  ocean  in  the  person  of  our  president 
and  his  retinue  to  secure  expressions  of  approval  for 
what  we  have  done  in  the  war  by  music  and  salvos  of 
artillery  and  displays  of  gold  plate  and  livery,  if  anyone 
wants  that  thing.  It  is  a  matter  of  taste  and  that  has 
a  wide  range.  After  the  great  pressing  questions  between 
the  nations  concerned  are  settled  by  the  nations  con- 
cerned, there  would  be  time  to  take  up  the  question 
of  a  League  of  Nations  and  the  Freedom  of  the  Seas, 
and  other  of  the  fourteen  international  beatitudes. 
We  are  not  certain  that  we  oppose  the  League  of  Nations 
or  that  we  favor  it.    We  are  certain  that  we  have  not 

78 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

had  time  to  know  what  we  think  yet.  Our  great  delibera- 
tive body  has  not  been  permitted  to  discuss  that  question 
without  the  charge  of  partisan  motives. 

We  need  time  fbr  our  Senate,  that  body  which  used 
to  be  recognized  as  of  co-ordinate  authority  and  dignity, 
to  discuss  the  momentous  questions  on  which  we  occupy 
at  least  a  border  place. 

We  needed  someone  like  Roosevelt  to  show  us  that 
we-  had  the  cart  harnessed  before  the  horse.  Other  men 
might  say  it  and  the  world  would  not  listen.  Men 
listened  to  him. 

It  seems  to  me  that  having  gone  in  late,  almost 
fatally  late,  it  would  have  been  modest  when  our  boys 
had  finished  their  magnificent  fighting  to  quietly  fold 
our  tents  and  come  home  and  stay  at  home  ourselves  until 
we  could  settle  as  a  people  in  our  Congress,  through 
our  representatives,  the  only  question  that  concerned  us, 
the  vast  principles  on  which  all  nations  should  conduct 
themselves  toward  one  another.  This  would  have  been 
American.  We  have  never  permitted  one  citizen  to 
make  our  laws  nor  to  dictate  terms  beyond  our  written 
instrument.  No  man  rules  us.  No  man  is  king  over  us. 
We  cannot  afford  the  incursion  of  any  man's  reference  to 
Americans  as  *'  my  people."  That  was  the  prerogative  of 
Kaisers  and  Czars.  We  cannot  afford  the  humiliation 
of  dictated  terms  for  the  remaking  of  Europe  through 
one  man  without  even  the  knowledge  of  our  Senate  or 
of  the  people  as  to  what  those  terms  are.  Never  has 
there  been  any  such  autocracy  in  the  history  of  our  land. 
Never  will  it  be  attempted  again  if  we  are  to  remain 
a  free  people. 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

The  conditions  of  peace  have  not  been  sent  to 
European  nations  by  the  American  people.  But  they 
have  been  taken  over  in  utter  defiance  and  contempt  of 
the  mind  of  our  people.  The  people  have  not  been 
permitted  to  know  what  the  supreme  dictator  himself 
means  by  them.  We  have  transplanted  the  rule  of  the 
Kaiser  and  Czar  into  America  and  our  President  has  done 
what  the  King  of  England  would  not  dare  to  do,  and 
what  if  he  did  do  would  cost  him  his  crown. 

Will  you  tell  me  how  long  the  American  government 
will  stand  after  one  man  becomes  that  government? 
Is  it  not  opening  a  way  for  our  I.  W.  W.  and  our  anarchistic 
Red  Bolshevists  to  defy  our  constitution,  our  courts 
and  our  executives? 

We  must  obey  our  traditions  and  our  unwritten 
laws  and  practices  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  if  we 
expect  others  to  obey  them.  We  must  not  compromise 
our  form  of  government.  It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  it 
is  better  done  as  it  is  being  done.  That  is  far  from 
certain  and  if  it  were  true  it  is  too  perilous  to  take  the 
chance.  Our  only  safety  is  within  the  law  and  traditions 
that  have  become  law. 

There  are  too  many  wild  elements  among  us  trying 
to  usurp  our  body  politic,  for  us  to  leave  any  bars  down 
or  any  gates  open.  The  minute  we  disregard  our  con- 
stitution and  make  a  substitution  of  personal  choice 
or  permit  any  official  assumptions  beyond  the  terms 
laid  down  by  our  forms  of  action  we  are  in  danger  that 
liberty  will  be  taken  by  destructive  forces  and  that  all 
law  and  order  will  be  over-ridden  and  trampled  under 
foot.    The  only  way  we  can  safely  secure  obedience 

80 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

to  law  by  the  people  is  for  their  representatives  and 
servants  in  all  the  offices  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest 
to  lead  them  with  law.  If  we  do  not  they  will  overwhelm 
us  without  law.  Nothing  breeds  riot  with  the  destruction 
of  life  and  property  like  license  v/ith  our  institutions 
by  those  set  to  sacredly  defend  them  and  obey  them. 

Our  carelessness  in  recent  years  has  permitted 
broods  of  vipers  to  hatch  and  sting  us  in  nearly  all  our 
considerable  communities.  It  is  high  time  to  sound 
a  warning  and  return  to  the  democracy  of  our  fathers  who 
dared  not  attempt  national  life  and  government  ^\^thout 
a  national  constitution  which  they  defended  with  their 
li\'es  and  which  they  permitted  no  man  carelessly  or 
ignorantly  to  ignore  and  set  aside.  In  addition  to  the 
peril  that  threatens  by  a  loosening  of  reverence  for  the 
Americanism  which  ex-President  Roosevelt  championed 
with  his  last  breath,  is  the  price  which  we  must  pay  for 
mixing  in  the  disputes  among  European  nations  that  do 
not  concern  us.  Are  we  going  to  settle  affairs  over  there 
and  they  have  no  right  of  parity  to  settle  things  to 
suit  themselves  over  here? 

We  fought  to  defend  our  pathways  across  the  seas 
and  to  make  it  safe  for  our  people  to  travel  them.  We 
fought  to  hurl  back  the  world's  foe  of  small  and  defense- 
less peoples.  Though  coming  late  we  helped  finish  that 
work.  That  was  all  we  had  to  do  until  our  Senate 
should  act  on  the  larger  question  of  the  future.  And 
that  w^as  the  work  for  the  American  people  to  do.  Our 
legislatures  are  our  people.  Our  American  Congress  is 
the  American  people.  And  our  people  have  a  right 
to  speak  through  their  Congress  and  it  is  their  duty 

81 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

to  speak.  Their  Congress  cannot  be  ignored.  That  is 
riding  over  the  people  themselves.  And  they  cannot 
permit  themselves  to  be  ignored  without  inviting  disaster 
to  their  land  and  country. 

There  must  be  a  day  of  reckoning,  immediate  and 
decisive  reckoning.  Colonel  Roosevelt  exhorted  us  **  not 
to  sag  back  in  our  Americanism."  Where  has  our 
Americanism  gone  in  the  last  six  weeks?  It  has  been  put 
in  a  bag  and  carried  out  to  sea.  And  the  men  who 
miss  it  and  demand  that  it  be  returned  are  charged 
with  disloyalty  and  partisan  politics!  Thank  God  that 
was  one  thing  that  Theodore  Roosevelt  did  not  fear 
when  he  knew  his  cause  was  just.  And  why  should 
you  and  I? 

In  the  name  of  our  fathers,  where  are  we  going  to 
and  what  are  we  going  from?  Are  we  an  American 
republic?  Are  we  a  nation  of  freemen?  Can  anyone 
wonder  that  unwashed  Bolshevists  and  Red  Flag  Socialists 
will  dare  to  spit  upon  us  and  trample  our  flag  in  the 
dust  of  the  streets! 

Can  we  afford  to  lose  by  death  our  bravest  citizen, 
our  fearless  champion  of  the  whole  people,  our  defender 
of  the  constitution  which  secured  to  us  the  government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  the  only  safe  Magna  Charta! 
We  have  lost  in  our  champion  of  a  free  America  ten 
thousand  men, —  ten  thousand  great  men  as  great  men 
are  measured  today. 

I  did  not  always  agree  with  all  he  did.  I  do  not 
accept  the  doctrine  that  only  good  must  be  said  of  the 
dead.  A  man's  character  must  carry  his  reputation  in 
life  and  in  death.    And  we  should  see  men  as  we  knew 

82 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

them  in  life  or  death.  A  discriminating  appreciation  is 
the  most  just.  With  all  impulses  and  mistakes  reckoned, 
and  there  were  some,  and  sometimes  serious,  we  bade 
farewell  a  few  hours  ago  to  the  greatest  American  citizen 
since  Abraham  Lincoln. 

It  seems  to  us  that  he  has  gone  too  soon. 

But  God  reigns.  What  has  been  will  be.  Other 
men  equal  to  their  times  will  appear.  They  will  be  unlike, 
as  Roosevelt  differed  from  Lincoln.  All  along  the  ages 
great  men  have  appeared  who  seemed  indispensable 
to  the  leadership  of  their  times.  But  when  they  went 
the  world  did  not  stop.  In  some  instances  they  con- 
tributed more  by  their  death  than  by  their  life.  When 
Lincoln  fell  under  the  assassin's  bullet  a  calamity  over- 
whelmed the  nation.  We  felt,  and  some  of  us  continue 
to  feel,  that  disaster  came  upon  reconstruction  and  that 
things  would  have  been  far  different  if  he  had  lived. 
The  breach  would  have  been  sooner  healed.  The  North 
and  South  would  have  been  one  long  ago.  We  could 
not  understand  it.  W^e  cannot  measure  the  divine 
movements,  the  infinite  wisdom,  the  things  which  He 
permits  that  we  would  not  permit.  It  seems  to  us  that 
the  death  of  Roosevelt  was  a  great  calamity  just  now 
when  so  many  destructive  elements  lurk  in  the  shadows 
of  timid  men,  to  spring  upon  us  and  clutch  our  national 
throat.  They  feared  him  enough  to  shoot  him  years  ago. 
They  feared  him  more  the  day  he  died.  Hell  broke  out 
with  wild  laughter  and  shouts.  A  mighty  obstacle  was 
removed.  Why  did  God  do  it?  Perhaps  our  faith  is 
misplaced.  We  put  our  faith  in  men,  great  men,  and 
they  fall.    Then  we  trust  God. 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

God  seems  to  depend  upon  men,  but  when  we  think 
He  is  trusting  them  most  and  that  He  most  depends 
upon  them  He  removes  them.  He  moves  in  His 
mysterious  way,  His  wonders  to  perform,  both  by  using 
them  and  not  using  them. 

It  is  our  time  to  put  our  faith  in  Him  who  rules 
over  all. 

Our  country  will  stand.  It  is  builded  upon  divine 
principles,  its  industries,  its  business,  its  homes,  its 
government,  its  morals  are  founded  on  God's  law.  And 
that  never  wears  out.  It  cannot  be  overthrown.  Try  to 
dig  under  it.  You  cannot,  it  is  as  deep  as  the  throne 
of  right  and  justice. 

It  will  take  time  to  adjust  ourselves.  But  our 
great  leaders  do  not  carry  away  with  them  the  principles 
of  our  national  integrity.  These  principles  remain  for 
other  men  to  use  and  God  furnishes  those  men. 

The  greatest  fame  that  can  come  to  men  is  to  be 
used  in  God's  critical  times,  to  help  make  constructive 
epochs,  to  see  them  when  they  come,  to  use  them  with 
no  fear  but  the  fear  of  God,  to  welcome  consequences, 
to  venture  all  personal  ambition  and  profit,  to  be  used  for 
the  common  good,  to  live  lives  of  service  for  all  men, 
that  is  to  learn  the  great  lesson  from  above  that  to  save 
one's  life  is  to  lose  it,  to  lose  one's  life  is  to  save  it. 

So  far  as  men  follow  these  standards  their  immortality 
is  safe.  Their  works  cannot  perish.  What  they  put  into 
their  country  cannot  be  withdrawn  from  it. 

The  greatest  debt  we  owe  to  Theodore  Roosevelt 
today  is  for  his  Americanism,  his  all-Americanism,  boldly, 
fearlessly  declared  in  a  time  when  perilous  isms  of  all 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

kinds  are  striving  to  undermine  our  country.  Mr. 
Roosevelt  insisted  that  there  can  be  but  one  national 
ism  in  this  broad  land  and  that  is  Americanism, —  one 
loyalty,  one  flag,  one  common  language,  one  great  and 
prosperous  people. 

Selection — ''How  Firm  a  Foundation,"  by  the 
quartet. 

HOW  FIRM  A  FOUNDATION 

How  firm  a  foundation,  ye  saints  of  the  Lord, 
Is  laid  for  your  faith  in  His  excellent  word! 
What  more  can  He  say  than  to  you  He  hath  said, 
You  who  unto  Jesus  for  refuge  have  fled? 

"  Fear  not,  I  am  with  thee,  O  be  not  dismayed, 
For  I  am  Thy  God,  and  will  still  give  thee  aid; 
I'll  strengthen  thee,  help  thee,  and  cause  thee  to  stand, 
Upheld  by  My  righteous,  omnipotent  hand, 

"  When  through  the  deep  waters,  I  call  thee  to  go. 
The  rivers  of  woe  shall  not  thee  overflow; 
For  I  will  be  with  thee  thy  trouble  to  bless, 
And  sanctify  to  thee  thy  deepest  distress. 

"  When  through  fiery  trials  thy  pathway  shall  lie. 
My  grace,  all-sufficient,  shall  be  thy  supply ; 
The  flame  shall  not  hurt  thee:  I  only  design 
Thy  dross  to  consume,  and  thy  gold  to  refine. 

"E'en  down  to  old  age,  all  My  people  shall  prove, 
My  sovereign,  eternal,  unchangeable  love; 
And  when  hoary  hairs  shall  their  temples  adorn, 
Like  lambs  they  shall  still  in  my  bosom  be  borne. 

"  The  soul  that  on  Jesus  hath  leaned  for  repose 

I  will  not,  I  will  not  desert  to  His  foes; 

That  soul,  though  all  hell  should  endeavor  to  shake, 

I'll  never,  no  never,  no  never  forsake." 
85 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

The  Chairman.  Benediction  —  Bishop  Richard  H. 
Nelson.    The  audience  will  please  arise. 

Benediction  —  Bishop  Richard  H.  Nelson,  Albany 

Almighty  Father,  Who  has  raised  up  great  men  to 
bring  us,  Thy  people,  to  a  place  of  power  and  honor  among 
the  nations  of  the  world,  we  beseech  Thee  to  send  Thy 
blessing  upon  those  who  are  gathered  together  here  to 
honor  the  memory  of  the  gifted,  patriotic,  American 
citizen.  And  grant  that  we  may  learn  from  the  example 
of  his  life  to  do  our  duty  faithfully  and  fearlessly  in  these 
grave  times,  and,  like  him,  be  ready  to  sacrifice  that 
which  is  dearest  to  us  in  life  that  our  nation  may  be 
true  to  its  ideals  and  may  accompUsh  its  mission  in  the 
world. 

We  ask  in  the  name  of  Christ,  our  Lord.    Amen. 


86 


APPENDIX 


ADDRESS 


OF 


SENATOR    HENRY    CABOT    LODGE 

OF    MASSACHUSETTS 


IN    HONOR    OF 


THEODORE    ROOSEVELT 

Ex-President  of  the  United   States 


BEFORE    THE 


CONGRESS   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES 
SUNDAY,  FEBRUARY  9,  1919 


THEODORE    ROOSEVELT 

A  tower  is  fallen,  a  star  is  set !    Alas  !  Alas  !  for  Celin. 

'"T^HE  words  of  lamentation  from  the  old  Moorish 
J[  ballad,  which  in  boyhood  we  used  to  recite,  must, 
I  think,  have  risen  to  many  lips  when  the  world 
was  told  that  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  dead.  But  what- 
ever the  phrase  the  thought  was  instant  and  everywhere. 
Variously  expressed,  you  heard  it  in  the  crowds  about 
the  bulletin  boards,  from  the  man  in  the  street  and  the 
man  on  the  railroads,  from  the  farmer  in  the  fields,  the 
women  in  the  shops,  in  the  factories,  and  in  the  homes. 
The  pulpit  found  in  his  life  a  text  for  sermons.  The 
judge  on  the  bench,  the  child  at  school,  alike  paused  for 
a  moment,  conscious  of  a  loss.  The  cry  of  sorrow  came 
from  men  and  women  of  all  conditions,  high  and  low, 
rich  and  poor,  from  the  learned  and  the  ignorant,  from 
the  multitude  who  had  loved  and  followed  him,  and 
from  those  who  had  opposed  and  resisted  him.  The 
newspapers  pushed  aside  the  absorbing  reports  of  the 
events  of  these  fateful  days  and  gave  pages  to  the  man 
who  had  died.  Flashed  beneath  the  ocean  and  through 
the  air  went  the  announcement  of  his  death,  and  back 
came  a  world-wide  response  from  courts  and  cabinets, 
from  press  and  people,  in  other  and  far-distant  lands. 
Through  it  all  ran  a  golden  thread  of  personal  feeling 
which  gleams  so  rarely  in  the  somber  formalism  of  public 
grief.    Everywhere  the  people  felt  in  their  hearts  that: 

A  power  was  passing  from  the  Earth 
To  breathless  Nature's  dark  abyss. 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

It  would  seem  that  here  was  a  man,  a  private  citizen, 
conspicuous  by  no  office,  with  no  glitter  of  power  about 
him,  no  ability  to  reward  or  punish,  gone  from  the 
earthly  life,  who  must  have  been  unusual  even  among 
the  leaders  of  men,  and  who  thus  demands  our  serious 
consideration. 

This  is  a  thought  to  be  borne  in  mind  to-day.  We 
meet  to  render  honor  to  the  dead,  to  the  great  American 
whom  we  mourn.  But  there  is  something  more  to  be 
done.  We  must  remember  that  when  History,  with 
steady  hand  and  calm  eyes,  free  from  the  passions  of 
the  past,  comes  to  make  up  the  final  account,  she  will 
call  as  her  principal  witnesses  the  contemporaries  of 
the  man  or  the  event  awaiting  her  verdict.  Here  and 
elsewhere  the  men  and  women  who  knew  Theodore 
Roosevelt  or  who  belong  to  his  period  will  give  public 
utterance  to  their  emotions  and  to  their  judgments  in 
regard  to  him.  This  will  be  part  of  the  record  to  which 
the  historian  will  turn  when  our  living  present  has  become 
the  past,  of  which  it  is  his  duty  to  write.  Thus  is  there 
a  responsibility  placed  upon  each  one  of  us  who  will 
clearly  realize  that  here,  too,  is  a  duty  to  posterity, 
whom  we  would  fain  guide  to  the  truth  as  we  see  it, 
and  to  whose  hands  we  commit  our  share  in  the  history 
of  our  beloved  country  —  that  history  so  much  of  which 
was  made  under  his  leadership. 

We  can  not  approach  Theodore  Roosevelt  along  the 
beaten  paths  of  eulogy  or  satisfy  ourselves  with  the 
empty  civilities  of  commonplace  funeral  tributes,  for  he 
did  not  make  his  life  journey  over  main-traveled  roads, 
nor  was  he   ever   commonplace.     Cold   and   pompous 

90 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

formalities  would  be  unsuited  to  him  who  was  devoid 
of  affectation,  who  was  never  self-conscious,  and  to  whom 
posturing  to  draw  the  public  gaze  seemed  not  only  repel- 
lent but  vulgar.  He  had  that  entire  simplicity  of  manners 
and  modes  of  life  which  is  the  crowning  result  of  the 
highest  culture  and  the  finest  nature.  Like  Cromwell, 
he  would  always  have  said:  "Paint  me  as  I  am." 
In  that  spirit,  in  his  spirit  of  devotion  to  truth's  simplicity, 
I  shall  try  to  speak  of  him  today  in  the  presence  of  the 
representatives  of  the  great  Government  of  which  he  was 
for  seven  years  the  head. 

The  rise  of  any  man  from  humble  or  still  more  from 
sordid  beginnings  to  the  heights  of  success  always  and 
naturally  appeals  strongly  to  the  imagination.  It  fur- 
nishes a  vivid  contrast  which  is  as  much  admired  as  it 
is  readily  understood.  It  still  retains  the  wonder  which 
such  success  awakened  in  the  days  of  hereditary  law- 
givers and  high  privileges  of  birth.  Birth  and  fortune, 
however,  mean  much  less  now  than  two  centuries  ago. 
To  climb  from  the  place  of  a  printer's  boy  to  the  highest 
rank  in  science,  politics,  and  diplomacy  would  be  far 
easier  to-day  than  in  the  eighteenth  century,  given 
a  genius  like  Franklin  to  do  it.  Moreover  the  real 
marvel  is  in  the  soaring  achievement  itself,  no  matter 
what  the  origin  of  the  man  who  comes  by  "  the  people's 
unbought  grace  to  rule  his  native  land  "  and  who  on 
descending  from  the  official  pinnacle  still  leads  and 
influences  thousands  upon  thousands  of  his  fellow  men. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  bom 
of  a  well-known,  long-established  family,  with  every 
facility  for  education  and  with  an  atmosphere  of  patriotism 

91 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

and  disinterested  service  both  to  country  and  humanity 
all  about  him.  In  his  father  he  had  before  him  an 
example  of  lofty  public  spirit,  from  which  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  depart.  But  if  the  work  of  his  ancestors 
relieved  him  from  the  hard  struggle  which  meets  an 
imaided  man  at  the  outset,  he  also  lacked  the  spur  of 
necessity  to  prick  the  sides  of  his  intent,  in  itself  no  small 
loss.  As  a  balance  to  the  opportunity  which  was  his 
without  labor,  he  had  not  only  the  later  difficulties 
which  come  to  him  to  whom  fate  has  been  kind  at  the 
start;  he  had  also  spread  before  him  the  temptations 
inseparable  from  such  inherited  advantages  as  fell  to  his 
lot  —  temptations  to  a  life  of  sports  and  pleasure,  to 
lettered  ease,  to  an  amateur's  career  in  one  of  the  fine 
arts,  perhaps  to  a  money-making  business,  likewise  an 
inheritance,  none  of  them  easily  to  be  set  aside  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  stern  rule  that  the  larger  and  more  facile 
the  opportimity  the  greater  and  more  insistent  the  respon- 
sibility. How  he  refused  to  tread  the  pleasant  paths  that 
opened  to  him  on  all  sides  and  took  the  instant  way 
which  led  over  the  rough  road  of  toil  and  action  his 
life  discloses. 

At  the  beginning,  moreover,  he  had  physical  diffi- 
culties not  lightly  to  be  overcome.  He  was  a  delicate 
child,  suffering  acutely  from  attacks  of  asthma.  He  was 
not  a  strong  boy,  was  retiring,  fond  of  books,  and  with 
an  intense  but  solitary  devotion  to  natural  history.  As 
his  health  gradually  improved  he  became  possessed  by 
the  belief,  although  he  perhaps  did  not  then  formulate 
it,  that  in  the  fields  of  active  life  a  man  could  do  that 
which  he  willed  to  do;  and  this  faith  was  with  him  to 

92 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

the  end.  It  became  very  evident  when  he  went  to  Har- 
vard. He  made  himself  an  athlete  by  sheer  hard  work. 
Hampered  by  extreme  near-sightedness,  he  became  none 
the  less  a  formidable  boxer  and  an  excellent  shot.  He 
stood  high  in  scholarship,  but  as  he  worked  hard,  so 
he  played  hard,  and  was  popular  in  the  university  and 
beloved  by  his  friends.  For  a  shy  and  delicate  boy  all 
this  meant  solid  achievement,  as  well  as  unusual  deter- 
mination and  force  of  will.  Apparently  he  took  early 
to  heart  and  carried  out  to  fulfillment  the  noble  lines  of 
Clough's  Dipsychus: 

In  light  things 
Prove  thou  the  arms  thou  long'st  to  glorify, 
Nor  fear  to  work  up  from  the  lov/est  ranks 
Whence  come  great  Nature's  Captains.    And  high  deeds 
Haunt  not  the  fringy  edges  of  the  fight, 
But  the  pell-mell  of  men. 

When  a  young  man  comes  out  of  college  he  descends 
suddenly  from  the  highest  place  in  a  little  world  to  a 
very  obscure  corner  in  a  great  one.  It  is  something  of 
a  shock,  and  there  is  apt  to  be  a  chill  in  the  air.  Unless 
the  young  man's  life  has  been  planned  beforehand  and 
a  place  provided  for  him  by  others,  which  is  exceptional, 
or  unless  he  is  fortunate  in  a  strong  and  dominating 
purpose  or  talent  which  drives  him  to  science  or  art  or 
some  particular  profession,  he  finds  himself  at  this  period 
pausing  and  wondering  where  he  can  get  a  grip  upon  the 
vast  and  confused  world  into  which  he  has  been  plunged. 

It  is  a  trying  and  only  too  frequently  a  disheart- 
ening experience,  this  looking  for  a  career,  this  effort  to 
find  employment  in  a  huge  and  hurrying  crowd  which 

93 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

appears  to  have  no  use  for  the  newcomer.  Roosevelt, 
thus  cast  forth  on  his  own  resources  —  his  father,  so 
beloved  by  him,  having  died  two  years  before  —  fell  to 
work  at  once,  turning  to  the  study  of  the  law,  which  he 
did  not  like,  and  to  the  completion  of  a  history  of  the 
War  of  1812  which  he  had  begun  while  still  in  college. 
With  few  exceptions,  young  beginners  in  the  difficult  art 
of  writing  are  either  too  exuberant  or  too  dry.  Roosevelt 
said  that  his  book  was  as  dry  as  an  encyclopedia,  thus 
erring  in  precisely  the  direction  one  would  not  have 
expected.  The  book,  be  it  said,  was  by  no  means  so 
dry  as  he  thought  it,  and  it  had  some  other  admirable 
qualities.  It  was  clear  and  thorough,  and  the  battles 
by  sea  and  land,  especially  the  former,  which  involved 
the  armaments  and  crews,  the  size  and  speed  of  the 
ships  engaged  in  the  famous  frigate  and  sloop  actions, 
of  which  we  won  eleven  out  of  thirteen,  were  given  with 
a  minute  accuracy  never  before  attempted  in  the  accoimts 
of  this  war,  and  which  made  the  book  an  authority,  a 
position  it  holds  to  this  day. 

This  was  a  good  deal  of  sound  work  for  a  boy's 
first  year  out  of  college.  But  it  did  not  content  Roose- 
velt. Inherited  influences  and  inborn  desires  made  him 
earnest  and  eager  to  render  some  public  service.  In 
pursuit  of  this  aspiration  he  joined  the  Twenty-first 
Assembly  District  Republican  Association  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  for  by  such  machinery  all  politics  were  car- 
ried on  in  those  days.  It  was  not  an  association  com- 
posed of  his  normal  friends;  in  fact,  the  members  were 
not  only  eminently  practical  persons  but  they  were 
inclined  to  be  rough  in  their  methods.    They  were  not 

94 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

dreamers,  nor  were  they  laboring  under  many  illusions. 
Roosevelt  went  among  them  a  complete  stranger.  He 
differed  from  them  with  entire  frankness,  concealed  noth- 
ing, and  by  his  strong  and  simple  democratic  ways,  his 
intense  Americanism,  and  the  magical  personal  attrac- 
tion which  went  with  him  to  the  end,  made  some  devoted 
friends.  One  of  the  younger  leaders,  *'Joe  "  Murray, 
believed  in  him,  became  especially  attached  to  him,  and 
so  continued  imtil  death  separated  them.  Through  Mur- 
ray's efforts  he  was  elected  to  the  New  York  Assembly 
in  1881,  and  thus  only  one  year  after  leaving  college  his 
public  career  began.    He  was  just  twenty-three. 

Very  few  men  make  an  effective  State  reputation 
in  their  first  year  in  the  lower  branch  of  the  State  Legis- 
lature. I  never  happened  to  hear  of  one  who  made  a 
national  reputation  in  such  a  body.  Roosevelt  did  both. 
When  he  left  the  Assembly  after  three  years'  service  he 
was  a  national  figure,  well  known,  and  of  real  impor- 
tance, and  also  a  delegate  at  large  from  the  great  State 
of  New  York  to  the  Republican  national  convention  of 
1884,  where  he  played  a  leading  part.  Energy,  ability, 
and  the  most  entire  courage  were  the  secret  of  his  extra- 
ordinary success.  It  was  a  time  of  flagrant  corporate 
influence  in  the  New  York  Legislature,  of  the  "  Black 
Horse  Cavalry,"  of  a  group  of  members  who  made  money 
by  sustaining  corporation  measures  or  by  levying  on  cor- 
porations and  capital  through  the  familiar  artifice  of 
'*  strike  bills."  Roosevelt  attacked  them  all  openly  and 
aggressively  and  never  silently  or  quietly.  He  fought 
for  the  impeachment  of  a  judge  solely  because  he  believed 
the  judge  corrupt,  which  surprised  some  of  his  political 

95 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

associates  of  both  parties,  there  being,  as  one  practical 
thinker  observes,  "  no  politics  in  politics."  He  failed  to 
secure  the  impeachment,  but  the  fight  did  not  fail,  nor 
did  the  people  forget  it;  and  despite —  perhaps  because 
of  —  the  enemies  he  made,  he  was  twice  reelected.  He 
became  at  the  same  time  a  distinct,  well-defined  figure  to 
the  American  people.  He  had  touched  the  popular 
imagination.  In  this  way  he  performed  the  unexampled 
feat  of  leaving  the  New  York  Assembly,  which  he  had 
entered  three  years  before  an  unknown  boy,  with  a 
national  reputation  and  with  his  name  at  least  known 
throughout  the  United  States.  He  was  twenty-six 
years  old. 

When  he  left  Chicago  at  the  close  of  the  national 
convention  in  June,  1884,  he  did  not  return  to  New 
York,  but  went  West  to  the  "  Bad  Lands  "  of  the  Little 
Missouri  valley,  where  he  had  purchased  a  ranch  in  the 
previous  year.  The  early  love  of  natural  history  which 
never  abated  had  developed  into  a  passion  for  hunting 
and  for  life  in  the  open.  He  had  begun  in  the  wilds  of 
Maine  and  then  turned  to  the  west  and  to  a  cattle  ranch 
to  gratify  both  tastes.  The  life  appealed  to  him  and  he 
came  to  love  it.  He  herded  and  rounded  up  his  cattle, 
he  worked  as  a  cow-puncher,  only  rather  harder  than 
any  of  them,  and  in  the  intervals  he  hunted  and  shot 
big  game.  He  also  came  in  contact  with  men  of  a  new 
type,  rough,  sometimes  dangerous,  but  always  vigorous 
and  often  picturesque.  With  them  he  had  the  same 
success  as  with  the  practical  politicians  of  the  Twenty- 
first  Assembly  District,  although  they  were  widely  dif- 
ferent specimens  of  mankind.    But  all  alike  were  human 

96 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

at  bottom  and  so  was  Roosevelt.  He  argued  with  them, 
rode  with  them,  camped  with  them,  played  and  joked 
with  them,  but  was  always  master  of  his  outfit.  They 
respected  him  and  also  liked  him,  because  he  was  at 
all  times  simple,  straightforward,  outspoken,  and  sin- 
cere. He  became  a  popular  and  well-known  figure  in 
that  western  country  and  was  regarded  as  a  good  fel- 
low, a  **  white  man,'*  entirely  fearless,  thoroughly  good- 
natured  and  kind,  never  quarrelsome,  and  never  safe  to 
trifle  with,  bully,  or  threaten.  The  life  and  experiences 
of  that  time  found  their  way  into  a  book,  ''The  Hunting 
Trips  of  a  Ranchman,'*  interesting  in  description  and 
adventure  and  also  showing  a  marked  Hterary  quality. 

In  1886  he  ran  as  Republican  candidate  for  mayor 
of  New  York  and  might  have  been  elected  had  his  own 
party  stood  by  him.  But  many  excellent  men  of  Repub- 
lican faith  —  the  "timid  good,'*  as  he  called  them  — 
panic-stricken  by  the  formidable  candidacy  of  Henry 
George,  flocked  to  the  support  of  Mr.  Abram  Hewitt, 
the  Democratic  candidate,  as  the  man  most  certain  to 
defeat  the  menacing  champion  of  single  taxation.  Roose- 
velt was  beaten,  but  his  campaign,  which  was  entirely 
his  own  and  the  precursor  of  many  others,  his  speeches 
with  their  striking  quality  then  visible  to  the  country 
for  the  first  time,  all  combined  to  fix  the  attention  of 
the  people  upon  the  losing  candidate.  Roosevelt  was 
the  one  of  the  candidates  who  was  most  interesting,  and 
again  he  had  touched  the  imagination  of  the  people  and 
cut  a  little  deeper  into  the  popular  consciousness  and 
memory. 

Two  years  more  of  private  life,  devoted  to  his  home, 

97 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

where  his  greatest  happiness  was  always  found,  to  his 
ranch,  to  reading  and  writing  books,  and  then  came  an 
active  part  in  the  campaign  of  1888,  resulting  in  the 
election  of  President  Harrison,  who  made  him  civil  ser- 
vice commissioner  in  the  spring  of  1889.  He  was  in 
his  thirty-first  year.  Civil  service  reform  as  a  practical 
question  was  then  in  its  initial  stages.  The  law  estab- 
lishing it,  limited  in  extent  and  forced  through  by  a 
few  leaders  of  both  parties  in  the  Senate,  was  only  six 
years  old.  The  promoters  of  the  reform,  strong  in  quality, 
but  weak  in  numbers,  had  compelled  a  reluctant  accept- 
ance of  the  law  by  exercising  a  balance-of-power  vote  in 
certain  States  and  districts.  It  had  few  earnest  sup- 
porters in  Congress,  some  lukewarm  friends,  and  many 
strong  opponents.  All  the  active  politicians  were  prac- 
tically against  it.  Mr.  Conkling  had  said  that  when 
Dr.  Johnson  told  Boswell  "  that  patriotism  was  the  last 
refuge  of  a  scoundrel "  he  was  ignorant  of  the  possibilities 
of  the  word  ''  reform,"  and  this  witticism  met  with  a 
large  response. 

Civil  service  reform,  meaning  the  establishment  of 
a  classified  service  and  the  removal  of  routine  adminis- 
trative offices  from  politics,  had  not  reached  the  masses 
of  the  people  at  all.  The  average  voter  knew  and  cared 
nothing  about  it.  When  six  years  later  Roosevelt  resigned 
from  the  commission  the  great  body  of  the  people  knew 
well  what  civil  service  reform  meant,  large  bodies  of 
voters  cared  a  great  deal  about  it,  and  it  was  established 
and  spreading  its  control.  We  have  had  many  excellent 
men  who  have  done  good  work  in  the  civil  service  com- 
mission, although  that  work  is  neither  adventurous  nor 

93 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

exciting  and  rarely  attracts  public  attention,  but  no  one 
has  ever  forgotten  that  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  once 
civil  service  commissioner. 

He  found  the  law  struggling  for  existence,  laughed 
at,  sneered  at,  surrounded  by  enemies  in  Congress,  and 
with  but  few  fighting  friends.  He  threw  himself  into 
the  fray.  Congress  investigated  the  commission  about 
once  a  year,  which  was  exactly  what  Roosevelt  desired. 
Arjiually,  too,  the  opponents  of  the  reform  would  try 
to  defeat  the  appropriation  for  the  commission,  and  this 
again  was  playing  into  Roosevelt's  hands,  for  it  led 
to  debates,  and  the  newspapers  as  a  rule  sustained  the 
reform.  Senator  Gorman  mourned  in  the  Senate  over 
the  cruel  fate  of  a  "  bright  young  man  "  who  was  unable 
to  tell  on  examination  the  distance  of  Baltimore  from 
China,  and  thus  was  deprived  of  his  inalienable  right 
to  serv^e  his  country  in  the  postoffice.  Roosevelt  proved 
that  no  such  question  had  ever  been  asked  and  requested 
the  name  of  the  ''  bright  young  man."  The  name  was 
not  forthcoming,  and  the  victim  of  a  question  never 
asked  goes  down  nameless  to  posterity  in  the  Congres- 
sional  Record  as  merely  a  *'  bright  young  man."  Then 
General  Grosvenor,  a  leading  Republican  of  the  House, 
denounced  the  commissioner  for  crediting  his  district 
with  an  appointee  named  Rufus  Putnam  who  was  not 
a  resident  of  the  district,  and  Roosevelt  produced  a 
letter  from  the  general  recommending  Rufus  Putnam  as 
a  resident  of  his  district  and  a  constituent.  All  this 
was  unusual.  Hitherto  it  had  been  a  safe  amusement 
to  ridicule  and  jeer  at  civil  service  reform,  and  here  was 
a  commissioner  who  dared  to  reply  vigorously  to  attacks, 

99 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

and  even  to  prove  Senators  and  Congressmen  to  be 
wrong  in  their  facts.  The  amusement  of  baiting  the 
civil  service  commission  seemed  to  be  less  inviting  than 
before,  and,  worse  still,  the  entertaining  features  seemed 
to  have  passed  to  the  public,  who  enjoyed  and  approved 
the  commissioner  who  disregarded  etiquette  and  fought 
hard  for  the  law  he  was  appointed  to  enforce.  The  law 
suddenly  took  on  new  meaning  and  became  clearly  visible 
in  the  public  mind,  a  great  service  to  the  cause  of  good 
government. 

After  six  years*  service  in  the  civil  service  com- 
mission Roosevelt  left  Washington  to  accept  the  position 
of  president  of  the  board  of  police  commissioners  of 
the  city  of  New  York,  which  had  been  offered  to  him 
by  Mayor  Strong.  It  is  speaking  within  bounds  to  say 
that  the  history  of  the  police  force  of  New  York  has 
been  a  checkered  one  in  which  the  black  squares  have 
tended  to  predominate.  The  task  which  Roosevelt  con- 
fronted was  then,  as  always,  difficult,  and  the  machinery 
of  four  commissioners  and  a  practically  irremovable 
chief  made  action  extremely  slow  and  uncertain.  Roose- 
velt set  himself  to  expel  politics  and  favoritism  in  appoint- 
ments and  promotions  and  to  crush  corruption  every- 
where. In  some  way  he  drove  through  the  obstacles 
and  effected  great  improvements,  although  permanent 
betterment  was  perhaps  impossible.  Good  men  were 
appointed  and  meritorious  men  promoted  as  never  before, 
while  the  corrupt  and  dangerous  officers  were  punished 
in  a  number  of  instances,  sufficient,  at  least,  to  check 
and  discourage  evildoers.  Discipline  was  improved,  and 
the  force  became  very  loyal  to  the  chief  commissioner, 

100 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

because  they  learned  to  realize  that  he  was  fighting  for 
right  and  justice  without  fear  or  favor.  The  results  were 
also  shown  in  the  marked  decrease  of  crime,  which  judges 
pointed  out  from  the  bench.  Then,  too,  it  was  to  be 
observed  that  a  New  York  police  commissioner  suddenly- 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  country.  The  work  which 
was  being  done  by  Roosevelt  in  New  York,  his  mid- 
night walks  through  the  worst  quarters  of  the  great  city, 
to  see  whether  the  guardians  of  the  peace  did  their 
duty,  which  made  the  newspapers  compare  him  to  Haroiin 
Al  Raschid,  all  appealed  to  the  popular  imagination.  A 
purely  local  office  became  national  in  his  hands,  and  his 
picture  appeared  in  the  shops  of  European  cities.  There 
was  something  more  than  vigor  and  picturesqueness 
necessary  to  explain  these  phenomena.  The  truth  is 
that  Roosevelt  was  really  laboring  through  a  welter  of 
details  to  carry  out  certain  general  principles  which 
went  to  the  very  roots  of  society  and  government.  He 
wished  the  municipal  administration  to  be  something 
far  greater  than  a  business  man's  administration,  which 
was  the  demand  that  had  triumphed  at  the  polls.  He 
wanted  to  make  it  an  administration  of  the  working- 
men,  of  the  dwellers  in  the  tenements,  of  the  poverty 
and  suffering  which  haunted  the  back  streets  and  hidden 
purlieus  of  the  huge  city.  The  people  did  not  formu- 
late these  purposes  as  they  watched  what  he  was  doing, 
but  they  felt  them  and  understood  them  by  that  instinct 
which  is  often  so  keen  in  vast  bodies  of  men.  The  man 
who  was  toiling  in  the  seeming  obscurity  of  the  New 
York  police  commission  again  became  very  distinct  to 
his  fellow  countrymen  and  deepened  their  consciousness 

101 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

of  his  existence  and  their  comprehension  of  his  purposes 
and  aspirations. 

Striking  as  was  the  effect  of  this  police  work,  it 
only  lasted  for  two  years.  In  1897  he  was  offered  by 
President  McKinley,  whom  he  had  energetically  sup- 
ported in  the  preceding  campaign,  the  position  of  assist- 
ant secretary  of  the  navy.  He  accepted  at  once,  for  the 
place  and  the  work  both  appealed  to  him  most  strongly. 
The  opportunity  did  not  come  without  resistance.  The 
president,  an  old  friend,  liked  him  and  believed  in  him, 
but  the  secretary  of  the  navy  had  doubts,  and  also 
fears  that  Roosevelt  might  be  a  disturbing  and  restless 
assistant.  There  were  many  politicians,  too,  especially 
in  his  owTi  State,  whom  his  activities  as  civil  service  and 
police  commissioner  did  not  delight,  and  these  men 
opposed  him.  But  his  friends  were  powerful  and  devoted, 
and  the  president  appointed  him. 

His  new  place  had  to  him  a  peculiar  attraction. 
He  loved  the  navy.  He  had  written  its  brilliant  history 
in  the  War  of  1812.  He  had  done  all  in  his  power  in 
stimulating  public  opinion  to  support  the  "  new  navy  " 
we  were  just  then  beginning  to  build.  That  war  was 
coming  with  Spain  he  had  no  doubt.  We  were  unpre- 
pared, of  course,  even  for  such  a  war  as  this,  but  Roose- 
velt set  himself  to  do  what  could  be  done.  The  best 
and  most  farseeing  officers  rallied  round  him,  but  the 
opportunities  were  limited.  There  was  much  in  detail 
accomplished  which  can  not  be  described  here,  but  two 
acts  of  his  which  had  very  distinct  effect  upon  the  for- 
tunes of  the  war  must  be  noted.  He  saw  very  plainly  — 
although  most  people  never  perceived  it  at  all  —  that 

102 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

the  Philippines  would  be  a  vital  point  in  any  war  with 
Spain.  For  this  reason  it  was  highly  important  to  have 
the  right  man  in  command  of  the  Asiatic  squadron. 
Roosevelt  was  satisfied  that  Dewey  was  the  right  man, 
and  that  his  rival  was  not.  He  set  to  work  to  secure 
the  place  for  Dewey.  Through  the  aid  of  the  Senators 
from  Dewey's  native  state  and  others,  he  succeeded. 
Dewey  was  ordered  to  the  Asiatic  squadron.  Our  rela- 
tions with  Spain  grew  worse  and  worse.  On  February 
25,  1898,  war  was  drawing  very  near,  and  that  Saturday 
afternoon  Roosevelt  happened  to  be  acting  secretary  and 
sent  out  the  following  cablegram : 

Dewey  —  Hongkong: 

Order  the  squadron,  except  the  Monocacy,  to  Hongkong.  Keep  full 
of  coal.  In  the  event  of  declaration  of  war,  Spain,  your  duty  will  be  to 
see  that  the  Spanish  squadron  does  not  leave  the  Asiatic  coast,  and  then 
offensive  operations  in  the  Philippine  Islands.  Keep  Olympia  until 
further  orders. 

ROOSE\"ELT. 

I  believe  he  was  never  again  permitted  to  be  acting 
secretary.  But  the  deed  was  done.  The  wise  word  of 
readiness  had  been  spoken  and  was  not  recalled.  War 
came,  and  as  April  closed,  Dewey,  all  prepared,  slipped 
out  of  Hongkong  and  on  May  1st  fought  the  battle  of 
Manila  Bay. 

Roosevelt,  however,  did  not  continue  long  in  the 
Navy  Department.  Many  of  his  friends  felt  that  he 
was  doing  such  admirable  work  there  that  he  ought  to 
remain,  but  as  soon  as  war  was  declared  he  determined 
to  go,  and  his  resolution  was  not  to  be  shaken.  Nothing 
could  prevent  his  fighting   for  his  country  when  the 

103 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

country  was  at  war.  Congress  had  authorized  three 
volunteer  regiments  of  cavalry,  and  the  president  and 
the  secretary  of  war  gave  to  Leonard  Wood  —  then  a 
surgeon  in  the  regular  army  —  as  colonel,  and  to  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt,  as  lieutenant  colonel,  authority  to  raise 
one  of  these  regiments,  known  officially  as  the  First 
United  States  Volunteer  Cavalry,  and  to  all  the  country 
as  the  "  Rough  Riders."  The  regiment  was  raised 
chiefly  in  the  southwest  and  west,  where  Roosevelt's 
popularity  and  reputation  among  the  cowboys  and  the 
ranchmen  brought  many  eager  recruits  to  serve  with 
him.  After  the  regiment  had  been  organized  and  equipped 
they  had  some  difficulty  in  getting  to  Cuba,  but  Roose- 
velt as  usual  broke  through  all  obstacles,  and  finally 
succeeded,  with  Colonel  Wood,  in  getting  away  with  two 
battalions,  leaving  one  battalion  and  the  horses  behind. 
The  regiment  got  into  action  immediately  on  land- 
ing and  forced  its  way,  after  some  sharp  fighting  in 
the  jungle,  to  the  high  ground  on  which  were  placed 
the  fortifications  which  defended  the  approach  to  San- 
tiago. Colonel  Wood  was  almost  immediately  given 
command  of  a  brigade,  and  this  left  Roosevelt  colonel 
of  the  regiment.  In  the  battle  which  ensued  and  which 
resulted  in  the  capture  of  the  positions  commanding 
Santiago  and  the  bay,  the  Rough  Riders  took  a  leading 
part,  storming  one  of  the  San  Juan  heights,  which  they 
christened  Kettle  Hill,  with  Roosevelt  leading  the  men 
in  person.  It  was  a  dashing,  gallant  assault,  well  led 
and  thoroughly  successful.  Santiago  fell  after  the  defeat 
of  the  fleet,  and  then  followed  a  period  of  sickness  and 
suffering  —  the  latter  due  to  unreadiness  —  where  Roose- 

104 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

velt  did  everything  with  his  usual  driving  energy  to 
save  his  men,  whose  loyalty  to  their  colonel  went  with 
them  through  life.  The  war  was  soon  over,  but  brief 
as  it  had  been  Roosevelt  and  his  men  had  highly  dis- 
tinguished themselves,  and  he  stood  out  in  the  popular 
imagination  as  one  of  the  conspicuous  figures  of  the 
conflict.  He  brought  his  regiment  back  to  the  United 
States,  where  they  were  mustered  out,  and  almost  imme- 
diately afterwards  he  was  nominated  by  the  Republi- 
cans as  their  candidate  for  governor  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  The  situation  in  New  York  was  unfavorable 
for  the  Republicans,  and  the  younger  men  told  Senator 
Piatt,  who  dominated  the  organization  and  who  had  no 
desire  for  Roosevelt,  that  unless  he  was  nominated  they 
could  not  win.  Thus  forced,  the  organization  accepted 
him,  and  it  was  well  for  the  party  that  they  did  so. 
The  campaign  was  a  sharp  one  and  very  doubtful,  but 
Roosevelt  was  elected  by  a  narrow  margin  and  assumed 
office  at  the  beginning  of  the  new  year  of  1899.  He  was 
then  in  his  forty-first  year. 

Many  problems  faced  him  and  none  were  evaded. 
He  was  well  aware  that  the  ''  organization  "  under  Sen- 
ator Piatt  would  not  like  many  things  he  was  sure  to 
do,  but  he  determined  that  he  would  have  neither  per- 
sonal quarrels  nor  faction  fights.  He  knew,  being  blessed 
with  strong  common  sense,  that  the  Republican  party, 
his  own  party,  was  the  instrument  by  which  alone  he 
could  attain  his  ends,  and  he  did  not  intend  that  it 
should  be  blunted  and  made  useless  by  internal  strife. 
And  yet  he  meant  to  have  his  own  way.  It  was  a  diffi- 
cult role  which  he  undertook  to  play,  but  he  succeeded. 

105 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

He  had  many  differences  with  the  organization  man- 
agers, but  he  declined  to  lose  his  temper  or  to  have  a 
break,  and  he  also  refused  to  yield  when  he  felt  he  was 
standing  for  the  right  and  a  principle  was  at  stake. 
Thus  he  prevailed.  He  won  on  the  canal  question, 
changed  the  insurance  commissioner,  and  carried  the 
insurance  legislation  he  desired.  As  in  these  cases,  so 
it  was  in  lesser  things.  In  the  police  commission  he 
had  been  strongly  impressed  by  the  dangers  as  he  saw 
them  of  the  undue  and  often  sinister  influence  of  busi- 
ness, finance,  and  great  money  interests  upon  govern- 
ment and  politics.  These  feelings  were  deepened  and 
broadened  by  his  experience  and  observation  on  the 
larger  stage  of  state  administration.  The  belief  that 
political  equality  must  be  strengthened  and  sustained 
by  industrial  equality  and  a  larger  economic  opportunity 
was  constantly  in  his  thoughts  until  it  became  a  govern- 
ing and  guiding  principle. 

Meantime  he  grew  steadily  stronger  among  the  peo- 
ple, not  only  of  his  own  state  but  of  the  country,  for 
he  was  well  known  throughout  the  west,  and  there  they 
were  watching  eagerly  to  see  how  the  ranchman  and 
colonel  of  Rough  Riders,  who  had  touched  both  their 
hearts  and  their  imagination,  was  faring  as  governor  of 
New  York.  The  office  he  held  is  always  regarded  as 
related  to  the  presidency,  and  this,  joined  to  his  strik- 
ing success  as  governor,  brought  him  into  the  presiden- 
tial field  wherever  men  speculated  about  the  political 
future.  It  was  universally  agreed  that  McKinley  was 
to  be  renominated,  and  so  the  talk  turned  to  making 
Roosevelt  vice-president.    A  friend  wrote  to  him  in  the 

106 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

summer  of  1899  as  to  this  drift  of  opinion,  then  assum- 
ing serious  proportions.  **  Do  not  attempt,"  he  said, 
"  to  thwart  the  popular  desire.  You  are  not  a  man 
nor  are  your  close  friends  men  who  can  plan,  arrange, 
and  manage  you  into  office.  You  must  accept  the  popu- 
lar wish,  whatever  it  is,  follow  your  star,  and  let  the 
future  care  for  itself.  It  is  the  tradition  of  our  politics, 
and  a  very  poor  tradition,  that  the  vice-presidency  is 
a  shelf.  It  ought  to  be,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  it 
should  not  be,  a  stepping-stone.  Put  there  by  the  popu- 
lar desire,  it  would  be  so  to  you."  This  view,  quite 
naturally,  did  not  commend  itself  to  Governor  Roosevelt 
at  the  moment.  He  was  doing  valuable  work  in  New 
York;  he  was  deeply  engaged  in  important  reforms  which 
he  had  much  at  heart  and  which  he  wished  to  carry 
through;  and  the  vice-presidency  did  not  attract  him. 
A  year  later  he  was  at  Philadelphia,  a  delegate  at  large 
from  his  state,  with  his  mind  unchanged  as  to  the  vice- 
presidency,  while  his  New  York  friends,  anxious  to  have 
him  continue  his  work  at  Albany,  were  urging  him  to 
refuse.  Senator  Piatt,  for  obvious  reasons,  wished  to 
make  him  vice-president,  another  obstacle  to  his  taking 
it.  Roosevelt  forced  the  New  York  delegation  to  agree 
on  someone  else  for  vice-president,  but  he  could  not 
hold  the  convention,  nor  could  Senator  Hanna,  who 
wisely  accepted  the  situation.  Governor  Roosevelt  was 
nominated  on  the  first  ballot,  all  other  candidates  with- 
drawing. He  accepted  the  nomination,  little  as  he 
liked  it. 

Thus  when  it  came  to  the  point  he  instinctively 
followed  his  star  and  grasped  the  unvacillating  hand  of 

107 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

destiny.  Little  did  he  think  that  destiny  would  lead 
him  to  the  White  House  through  a  tragedy  which  cut 
him  to  the  heart.  He  was  on  a  mountain  in  the  Adiron- 
dacks  when  a  guide  made  his  way  to  him  across  the 
forest  with  a  telegram  telling  him  that  McKinley,  the 
wise,  the  kind,  the  gentle,  with  nothing  in  his  heart  but 
good  will  to  all  men,  was  dying  from  a  wound  inflicted 
by  an  anarchist  murderer,  and  that  the  vice-president 
must  come  to  Buffalo  at  once.  A  rapid  night  drive 
through  the  woods  and  a  special  train  brought  him  to 
Buffalo.  McKinley  was  dead  before  he  arrived,  and  that 
evening  Governor  Roosevelt  was  sworn  in  as  president 
of  the  United  States. 

Within  the  narrow  limits  of  an  address  it  is  impos- 
sible to  give  an  account  of  an  administration  of  seven 
years  which  will  occupy  hundreds  of  pages  when  the 
history  of  the  United  States  during  that  period  is  writ- 
ten. It  was  a  memorable  administration,  memorable  in 
itself  and  not  by  the  accident  of  events,  and  large  in 
its  accomplishment.  It  began  with  a  surprise.  There 
were  persons  in  the  United  States  who  had  carefully 
cultivated,  and  many  people  who  had  accepted  without 
thought,  the  idea  that  Roosevelt  was  in  some  way  a 
dangerous  man.  They  gloomily  predicted  that  there 
would  be  a  violent  change  in  the  policies  and  in  the 
officers  of  the  McKinley  administration.  But  Roosevelt 
had  not  studied  the  history  of  his  country  in  vain.  He 
knew  that  in  three  of  the  four  cases  where  vice-presidents 
had  succeeded  to  the  presidency  through  the  death  of 
the  elected  president,  their  coming  had  resulted  in  a 
violent  shifting  of  policies  and  men,  and,  as  a  conse- 

/08 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

quence,  in  most  injurious  dissensions,  which  in  two  cases 
at  least  proved  fatal  to  the  party  in  power.  In  all  four 
instances  the  final  obliteration  of  the  vice-president  who 
had  come  into  power  through  the  death  of  his  chief 
was  complete.  President  Roosevelt  did  not  intend  to 
permit  any  of  these  results.  As  soon  as  he  came  into 
office  he  announced  that  he  intended  to  retain  President 
McKinley's  cabinet  and  to  carry  out  his  policies,  which 
had  been  sustained  at  the  polls.  To  those  overzealous 
friends  who  suggested  that  he  could  not  trust  the  appoin- 
tees of  President  McKinley  and  that  he  would  be  but 
a  pallid  imitation  of  his  predecessor  he  replied  that  he 
thought,  in  any  event,  the  administration  would  be  bis, 
and  that  if  new  occasions  required  new  policies  he  felt 
that  he  could  meet  them,  and  that  no  one  would  suspect 
him  of  being  a  pallid  imitation  of  anybody.  His  deci- 
sion, however,  gratified  and  satisfied  the  country,  and 
it  was  not  apparent  that  Roosevelt  was  hampered  in 
any  way  in  carrying  out  his  own  policies  by  this  wise 
refusal  to  make  sudden  and  violent  changes. 

Those  who  were  alarmed  about  what  he  might  do 
had  also  suggested  that  with  his  combative  propensities 
he  was  likely  to  involve  the  country  in  war.  Yet  there 
never  has  been  an  administration,  as  afterwards  ap- 
peared, when  we  were  more  perfectly  at  peace  with  all 
the  world,  nor  were  our  foreign  relations  ever  in  danger 
of  producing  hostilities.  But  this  was  not  due  in  the 
least  to  the  adoption  of  a  timid  or  yielding  foreign  pol- 
icy; on  the  contrary,  it  was  owing  to  the  firmness  of  the 
president  in  all  foreign  questions  and  the  knowledge 
which  other  nations  soon  acquired  that  President  Roose- 

109 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

velt  was  a  man  who  never  threatened  unless  he  meant 
to  carry  out  his  threat,  the  result  being  that  he  was 
not  obliged  to  threaten  at  all.  One  of  his  earliest  suc- 
cesses was  forcing  the  settlement  of  the  Alaskan  boimd- 
ary  question,  which  was  the  single  open  question  with 
Great  Britain  that  was  really  dangerous  and  contained 
within  itself  possibilities  of  war.  The  accomplishment 
of  this  settlement  was  followed  later,  while  Mr.  Root 
was  secretary  of  state,  by  the  arrangement  of  all  our 
outstanding  differences  with  Canada,  and  during  Mr. 
Root's  tenure  of  office  over  thirty  treaties  were  made 
with  different  nations,  including  a  nimiber  of  practical 
and  valuable  treaties  of  arbitration.  When  Germany 
started  to  take  advantage  of  the  difficulties  in  Venezuela 
the  affair  culminated  in  the  dispatch  of  Dewey  and  the 
fleet  to  the  Caribbean,  the  withdrawal  of  England  at 
once,  and  the  agreement  of  Germany  to  the  reference 
of  all  subjects  of  difference  to  arbitration.  It  was  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  whose  good  offices  brought  Russia  and 
Japan  together  in  a  negotiation  which  closed  the  war 
between  those  two  powers.  It  was  Roosevelt's  influence 
which  contributed  powerfully  to  settling  the  threatening 
controversy  between  Germany,  France,  and  England  in 
regard  to  Morocco,  by  the  Algeciras  conference.  It  was 
Roosevelt  who  sent  the  American  fleet  of  battleships 
round  the  world,  one  of  the  most  convincing  peace 
movements  ever  made  on  behalf  of  the  United  States. 
Thus  it  came  about  that  this  president,  dreaded  at  the 
beginning  on  accoimt  of  his  combative  spirit,  received 
the  Nobel  prize  in  1906  as  the  person  who  had  con- 
tributed most  to  the  peace  of  the  world  in  the  preceding 

110 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

years,  and  his  contribution  was  the  result  of  strength 
and  knowledge  and  not  of  weakness. 

At  home  he  recommended  to  Congress  legislation 
which  was  directed  toward  a  larger  control  of  the  rail- 
roads and  to  removing  the  privileges  and  curbing  the 
power  of  great  business  combinations  obtained  through 
rebates  and  preferential  freight  rates.  This  legislation 
led  to  opposition  in  Congress  and  to  much  resistance 
by  those  affected.  As  we  look  back,  this  legislation, 
so  much  contested  at  the  time,  seems  very  moderate, 
but  it  was  none  the  less  momentous.  President  Roose- 
velt never  believed  in  government  ownership,  but  he 
was  thoroughly  in  favor  of  strong  and  effective  govern- 
ment supervision  and  regulation  of  what  are  now  known 
generally  as  public  utilities.  He  had  a  deep  conviction 
that  the  political  influence  of  financial  and  business 
interests  and  of  great  combinations  of  capital  had  become 
so  great  that  the  American  people  were  beginning  to 
distrust  their  own  government,  than  which  there  could 
be  no  greater  peril  to  the  republic.  By  his  measures,  and 
by  his  general  attitude  toward  capital  and  labor  both, 
he  sought  to  restore  and  maintain  the  confidence  of  the 
people  in  the  government  they  had  themselves  created. 

In  the  Panama  canal  he  left  the  most  enduring,  as 
it  was  the  most  visible,  monument  of  his  administration. 
Much  criticized  at  the  moment  for  his  action  in  regard 
to  it,  which  time  since  then  has  justified  and  which  his- 
tory will  praise,  the  great  fact  remains  that  the  canal  is 
there.  He  said  himself  that  he  made  up  his  mind  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  establish  the  canal  and  have  the 
debate  about  it  afterwards,  which  seemed  to  him  better 
111 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

than  to  begin  with  indefinite  debate  and  have  no  canal 
at  all.  This  is  a  view  which  posterity  both  at  home 
and  abroad  will  accept  and  approve. 

These,  passing  over  as  we  must  in  silence  many 
other  beneficent  acts,  are  only  a  few  of  the  most  salient 
features  of  his  administration,  stripped  of  all  detail  and 
all  enlargement.  Despite  the  conflicts  which  some  of 
his  domestic  policies  had  produced  not  only  with  his 
political  opponents  but  within  the  Republican  ranks,  he 
was  overwhelmingly  reelected  in  1904,  and  when  the 
seven  years  had  closed  the  country  gave  a  like  majority 
to  his  chosen  successor,  taken  from  his  own  cabinet. 
On  the  4th  of  March,  1909,  he  returned  to  private  life 
at  the  age  of  fifty,  having  been  the  youngest  president 
known  to  our  history. 

During  the  brief  vacations  which  he  had  been  able 
to  secure  in  the  midst  of  the  intense  activities  of  his 
public  life  after  the  Spanish  War  he  had  turned  for 
enjoyment  to  expeditions  in  pursuit  of  big  game  in  the 
wildest  and  most  unsettled  regions  of  the  country.  Open- 
air  life  and  all  its  accompaniments  of  riding  and  hunt- 
ing were  to  him  the  one  thing  that  brought  him  the 
most  rest  and  relaxation.  Now,  having  left  the  presi- 
dency, he  was  able  to  give  full  scope  to  the  love  of 
adventure,  which  had  been  strong  with  him  from  boy- 
hood. Soon  after  his  retirement  from  office  he  went  to 
Africa,  accompanied  by  a  scientific  expedition  sent  out 
by  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  He  landed  in  East 
Africa,  made  his  way  into  the  interior,  and  thence  to 
the  sources  of  the  Nile,  after  a  trip  in  every  way  suc- 
cessful, both  in  exploration  and  in  pursuit  of  big  game. 

112 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

He  then  came  down  the  Nile  through  Egypt  and  thence 
to  Europe,  and  no  private  citizen  of  the  United  States  — 
probably  no  private  man  of  any  country  —  was  ever 
received  in  a  manner  comparable  to  that  which  met 
Roosevelt  in  every  country  in  Europe  which  he  visited. 
Everywhere  it  was  the  same  —  in  Italy,  in  Germany,  in 
France,  in  England.  Every  honor  was  paid  to  him  that 
authority  could  devise,  accompanied  by  every  mark  of 
affection  and  admiration  which  the  people  of  those 
countries  were  able  to  show.  He  made  few  speeches 
while  in  Europe,  but  in  those  few  he  did  not  fail  to  give 
to  the  questions  and  thought  of  the  time  real  and  gen- 
uine contributions,  set  forth  in  plain  language,  always 
vigorous  and  often  eloquent.  He  returned  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1910  to  the  United  States  and  was  greeted  with 
a  reception  on  his  landing  in  New  York  quite  equaling 
in  interest  and  enthusiasm  that  which  had  been  given 
to  him  in  Europe. 

For  two  years  afterwards  he  devoted  himself  to 
writing,  not  only  articles  as  contributing  editor  of  The 
Ouilooky  but  books  of  his  own  and  addresses  and  speeches 
which  he  was  constantly  called  upon  to  make.  No  man 
in  private  life  probably  ever  had  such  an  audience  as 
he  addressed,  whether  with  tongue  or  pen,  upon  the 
questions  of  the  day,  with  a  constant  refrain  as  to  the 
qualities  necessary  to  make  men  both  good  citizens  and 
good  Americans.  In  the  spring  of  1912  he  decided  to 
become  a  candidate  for  the  Republican  nomination  for 
the  presidency,  and  a  very  heated  struggle  followed 
between  himself  and  President  Taft  for  delegations  to 
the  convention.    The  convention  when  it  assembled  in 

113 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

Chicago  was  the  stormiest  ever  known  in  our  history. 
President  Taft  was  renominated,  most  of  the  Roosevelt 
delegates  refusing  to  vote,  and  a  large  body  of  Repub- 
licans thereupon  formed  a  new  party  called  the  "  Pro- 
gressive" and  nominated  Mr.  Roosevelt  as  their  candi- 
date. This  division  into  two  nearly  equal  parts  of  the 
Republican  party,  which  had  elected  Mr.  Roosevelt  and 
Mr.  Taft  in  succession  by  the  largest  majorities  ever 
known,  made  the  victory  of  the  Democratic  candidate 
absolutely  certain.  Colonel  Roosevelt,  however,  stood 
second  in  the  poll,  receiving  4,119,507  votes,  carrying 
six  states  and  winning  eighty-eight  electoral  votes.  There 
never  has  been  in  political  history,  when  all  conditions 
are  considered,  such  an  exhibition  of  extraordinary  per- 
sonal strength.  To  have  secured  eighty-eight  electoral 
votes  when  his  own  party  was  hopelessly  divided,  with 
no  great  historic  party  name  and  tradition  behind  him, 
with  an  organization  which  had  to  be  hastily  brought 
together  in  a  few  weeks,  seems  almost  incredible,  and 
in  all  his  career  there  is  no  display  of  the  strength  of 
his  hold  upon  the  people  equal  to  this. 

In  the  following  year  he  yielded  again  to  the  long- 
ing for  adventure  and  exploration.  Going  to  South 
America,  he  made  his  way  up  through  Paraguay  and 
western  Brazil,  and  then  across  a  trackless  wilderness  of 
jungle  and  down  an  unknown  river  into  the  valley  of 
the  Amazon.  It  was  a  remarkable  expedition  and  car- 
ried him  through  what  is  probably  the  most  deadly 
climate  in  the  world.  He  suffered  severely  from  the 
fever,  the  poison  of  which  never  left  him  and  which 
finally  shortened  his  life. 

114 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

In  the  next  year  the  great  war  began,  and  Colonel 
Roosevelt  threw  himself  into  it  with  all  the  energy  of 
his  nature.  With  Major  Gardner  he  led  the  great  fight 
for  preparedness  in  a  country  utterly  unprepared.  He 
saw  very  plainly  that  in  all  human  probability  it  would 
be  impossible  for  us  to  keep  out  of  the  war.  Therefore 
in  season  and  out  of  season  he  demanded  that  we  should 
make  ready.  He  and  Major  Gardner,  with  the  others 
who  joined  them,  roused  a  widespread  and  powerful 
sentiment  in  the  country,  but  there  was  no  practical 
effect  on  the  army.  The  navy  was  the  single  place 
where  anything  was  really  done,  and  that  only  in  the 
bill  of  1916,  so  that  war  finally  came  upon  us  as  unready 
as  Roosevelt  had  feared  we  should  be.  Yet  the  cam- 
paign he  made  was  not  in  vain,  for  in  addition  to  the 
question  of  preparation  he  spoke  earnestly  of  other  things, 
other  burning  questions,  and  he  always  spoke  to  an 
enormous  body  of  listeners  everywhere.  He  would  have 
had  us  protest  and  take  action  at  the  very  beginning, 
in  1914,  when  Belgium  was  invaded.  He  would  have 
had  us  go  to  war  when  the  murders  of  the  Liisitania 
were  perpetrated.  He  tried  to  stir  the  soul  and  rouse 
the  spirit  of  the  American  people,  and  despite  every 
obstacle  he  did  awaken  them,  so  that  when  the  hour 
came,  in  April,  1917,  a  large  proportion  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  were  even  then  ready  in  spirit  and  in  hope. 
How  telling  his  work  had  been  was  proved  by  the  con- 
fession of  his  country's  enemies,  for  when  he  died  the  only 
discordant  note,  the  only  harsh  words,  came  from  the 
German  press.  Germany  knew  whose  voice  it  was  that 
more  powerfully  than  any  other  had  called  Americans 

115 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

to  the  battle  in  behalf  of  freedom  and  civilization,  where 
the  advent  of  the  armies  of  the  United  States  gave 
victory  to  the  cause  of  justice  and  righteousness. 

When  the  United  States  went  to  war  Colonel  Roose- 
velt's one  desire  was  to  be  allowed  to  go  to  the  fighting 
line.  There  if  fate  had  laid  its  hand  upon  him  it  would 
have  found  him  glad  to  fall  in  the  trenches  or  in  a  charge 
at  the  head  of  his  men,  but  it  was  not  permitted  to  him 
to  go,  and  thus  he  was  denied  the  reward  which  he 
would  have  ranked  above  all  others,  "  the  great  prize 
of  death  in  battle."  But  he  was  a  patriot  in  every  fiber 
of  his  being,  and  personal  disappointment  in  no  manner 
slackened  or  cooled  his  zeal.  Everything  that  he  could 
do  to  forward  the  war,  to  quicken  preparation,  to  stim- 
ulate patriotism,  to  urge  on  efficient  action,  was  done. 
Day  and  night,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  he  never 
ceased  his  labors.  Although  prevented  from  going  to 
France  himself,  he  gave  to  the  great  conflict  that  which 
was  far  dearer  to  him  than  his  own  life.  I  can  not  say 
that  he  sent  his  four  sons,  because  they  all  went  at  once, 
as  everyone  knew  that  their  father's  sons  would  go. 
Two  have  been  badly  wounded;  one  was  killed.  He 
met  the  blow  with  the  most  splendid  and  unflinching 
courage,  met  it  as  Siward,  the  Earl  of  Northumberland, 
receives  in  the  play  the  news  of  his  son's  death: 

Siw.  Had  he  his  hurts  before? 

Ross.  Ay,  on  the  front. 

Siw.  Why,  then,  God's  soldier  be  he! 

Had  I  as  many  sons  as  I  have  hairs, 
I  would  not  wish  them  to  a  fairer  death: 
And  so  his  knell  is  knoU'd. 


116 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

Among  the  great  tragedies  of  Shakespeare,  and  there 
are  none  greater  in  all  the  literature  of  man,  Macbeth 
was  Colonel  Roosevelt's  favorite,  and  the  moving  words 
which  I  have  just  quoted  I  am  sure  were  in  his  heart 
and  on  his  lips  when  he  faced  with  stem  resolve  and 
self-control  the  anguish  brought  to  him  by  the  death  of 
his  youngest  boy,  killed  in  the  glory  of  a  brave  and 
brilliant  youth. 

He  lived  to  see  the  right  prevail;  he  lived  to  see 
civilization  triumph  over  organized  barbarism;  and  there 
was  great  joy  in  his  heart.  In  all  his  last  days  the 
thoughts  which  filled  his  mind  were  to  secure  a  peace 
which  should  render  Germany  forever  harmless  and 
advance  the  cause  of  ordered  freedom  in  every  land 
and  among  every  race.  This  occupied  him  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  everything  else,  except  what  he  called  and  what 
we  like  to  call  Americanism.  There  was  no  hour  down 
to  the  end  when  he  would  not  turn  aside  from  every- 
thing else  to  preach  the  doctrine  of  Americanism,  of  the 
principles  and  the  faith  upon  which  American  govern- 
ment rested,  and  which  all  true  Americans  should  wear 
in  their  heart  of  hearts.  He  was  a  great  patriot,  a  great 
man;  above  all,  a  great  American.  His  country  was  the 
ruling,  mastering  passion  of  his  life  from  the  beginning 
even  unto  the  end. 

So  closes  the  inadequate,  most  incomplete  account 
of  a  life  full  of  work  done  and  crowded  with  achieve- 
ment, brief  in  years  and  prematurely  ended.  The  reci- 
tation of  the  offices  which  he  held  and  of  some  of  the 
deeds  that  he  did  is  but  a  bare,  imperfect  catalogue 
into  which  history  when  we  are  gone  will  breathe  a 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

lasting  life.  Here  today  it  is  only  a  background,  and 
that  which  most  concerns  us  now  is  what  the  man  was 
of  whose  deeds  done  it  is  possible  to  make  such  a  list. 
^Yh^it  a  man  was  is  ever  more  important  than  what  he  did, 
because  it  is  upon  what  he  was  that  all  his  achievement 
depends  and  his  value  and  meaning  to  his  fellow  men 
must  finally  rest. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  always  believed  that  character 
was  of  greater  worth  and  moment  than  anything  else. 
He  possessed  abilities  of  the  first  order,  which  he  was 
disposed  to  imderrate,  because  he  set  so  much  greater 
store  upon  the  moral  qualities  which  we  bring  together 
under  the  single  word  *'  character.'' 

Let  me  speak  first  of  his  abilities.  He  had  a  power- 
ful, well-trained,  ever-active  mind.  He  thought  clearly, 
independently,  and  with  originality  and  imagination. 
These  priceless  gifts  were  sustained  by  an  extraordi- 
nary power  of  acquisition,  joined  to  a  greater  quickness 
of  apprehension,  a  greater  swiftness  in  seizing  upon  the 
essence  of  a  question,  than  I  have  ever  happened  to  see 
in  any  other  man.  His  reading  began  with  natural 
history,  then  went  to  general  history,  and  thence  to  the 
whole  field  of  literature.  He  had  a  capacity  for  con- 
centration which  enabled  him  to  read  with  remarkable 
rapidity  anything  which  he  took  up,  if  only  for  a  moment, 
and  which  separated  him  for  the  time  being  from  every- 
thing going  on  about  him.  The  subjects  upon  which  he 
was  well  and  widely  informed  would,  if  enumerated,  fill 
a  large  space,  and  to  this  power  of  acquisition  was  imited 
not  only  a  tenacious  but  an  extraordinary,  accurate 
memory.     It  was  never  safe  to  contest  with  him  on  any 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

question  of  fact  or  figures,  whether  they  related  to  the 
ancient  Assyrians  or  to  the  present-day  conditions  of  the 
tribes  of  central  Africa,  to  the  Syracusan  Expedition,  as 
told  by  Thucydides,  or  to  protective  coloring  in  birds  and 
animals.  He  knew  and  held  details  always  at  command, 
but  he  was  not  mastered  by  them.  He  never  failed 
to  see  the  forest  on  account  of  the  trees  or  the  city  on 
account  of  the  houses. 

He  made  himself  a  writer,  not  only  of  occasional 
addresses  and  essays,  but  of  books.  He  had  the  trained 
thoroughness  of  the  historian,  as  he  showed  in  his 
"  History  of  the  War  of  1812 ''  and  of  the  "  Winning 
of  the  West,''  and  nature  had  endowed  him  with  that 
most  enviable  of  gifts,  the  faculty  of  narrative  and  the 
art  of  the  teller  of  tales.  He  knew  how  to  weigh  evi- 
dence in  the  historical  scales  and  how  to  depict  character. 
He  learned  to  write  with  great  ease  and  fluency.  He 
was  always  vigorous,  always  energetic,  always  clear  and 
forcible  in  everything  he  wrote — -nobody  could  ever 
misunderstand  him  —  and  when  he  allowed  himself  time 
and  his  feelings  were  deeply  engaged  he  gave  to  the  world 
many  pages  of  beauty  as  well  as  power,  not  only  in 
thought  but  in  form  and  style.  At  the  same  time  he 
made  himself  a  public  speaker,  and  here  again,  through 
a  practice  probably  unequaled  in  amount,  he  became 
one  of  the  most  effective  in  all  our  history.  In  speaking, 
as  in  writing,  he  was  always  full  of  force  and  energy; 
he  drove  home  his  arguments  and  never  was  misunder- 
stood. In  many  of  his  more  carefully  prepared  addresses 
are  to  be  foimd  passages  of  impressive  eloquence,  touched 
with  imagination  and  instinct  with  grace  and  feeling. 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

He  had  a  large  capacity  for  administration,  clear- 
ness of  vision,  promptness  in  decision,  and  a  thorough 
apprehension  of  what  constituted  efficient  organization. 
All  the  vast  and  varied  work  which  he  accomplished 
could  not  have  been  done  unless  he  had  had  most 
exceptional  natural  abilities,  but  behind  them,  most 
important  of  all,  was  the  driving  force  of  an  intense 
energy  and  the  ever-present  belief  that  a  man  could 
do  what  he  willed  to  do.  As  he  made  himself  an  athlete, 
a  horseman,  a  good  shot,  a  bold  explorer,  so  he  made 
himself  an  exceptionally  successful  writer  and  speaker. 
Only  a  most  abnormal  energy  would  have  enabled  him 
to  enter  and  conquer  in  so  many  fields  of  intellectual 
achievement.  But  something  more  than  energy  and 
determination  is  needed  for  the  largest  success,  especially 
in  the  world's  high  places.  The  first  requisite  of  leader- 
ship is  ability  to  lead,  and  that  ability  Theodore  Roosevelt 
possessed  in  full  measure.  Whether  in  a  game  or  in 
the  hunting  field,  in  a  fight  or  in  politics,  he  sought 
the  front,  where,  as  Webster  once  remarked,  there  is 
always  plenty  of  room  for  those  who  can  get  there. 
His  instinct  was  always  to  say  *'  come "  rather  than 
**  go,"  and  he  had  the  talent  of  command. 

His  also  was  the  rare  gift  of  arresting  attention 
sharply  and  suddenly,  a  very  precious  attribute,  and 
one  easier  to  illustrate  than  to  describe.  This  arresting 
power  is  like  a  common  experience,  which  we  have  all 
had  on  entering  a  picture  gallery,  of  seeing  at  once  and 
before  all  others  a  single  picture  among  the  many  on 
the  walls.  For  a  moment  you  see  nothing  else,  although 
you  may  be  surrounded  with  masterpieces.     In  that 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

particular  picture  lurks  a  strange,  capturing,  gripping 
fascination  as  impalpable  as  it  is  unmistakable.  Roose- 
velt had  this  same  arresting,  fascinating  quality. 
^Vhether  in  the  Legislature  at  Albany,  the  civil  service 
commission  at  Washington,  or  the  police  commission  in 
New  York,  whether  in  the  Spanish  War  or  on  the  plains 
among  the  cowboys,  he  was  always  vivid,  at  times  start- 
ling, never  to  be  overlooked.  Nor  did  this  power  stop  here. 
He  not  only  without  effort  or  intention  drew  the  eager 
attention  of  the  people  to  himself,  he  could  also  engage 
and  fix  their  thoughts  upon  anything  which  happened 
to  interest  him.  It  might  be  a  man  or  a  book,  reformed 
spelling  or  some  large  historical  question,  his  traveling 
library  or  the  military  preparation  of  the  United  States, 
he  had  but  to  say,  **  See  how  interesting,  how  important, 
is  this  man  or  this  event,"  and  thousands,  even  millions, 
of  people  would  reply,  "  We  never  thought  of  this  before, 
but  it  certainly  is  one  of  the  most  interesting,  most 
absorbing  things  in  the  world."  He  touched  a  subject 
and  it  suddenly  began  to  glow  as  when  the  high-power 
electric  current  touches  the  metal  and  the  white  light 
starts  forth  and  dazzles  the  onlooking  eyes.  We  know 
the  air  played  by  the  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin  no  better 
than  we  know  why  Theodore  Roosevelt  thus  drew  the 
interest  of  men  after  him.  We  only  know  they  followed 
wherever  his  insatiable  activity  of  mind  invited  them. 
Men  follow  also  most  readily  a  leader  who  is  always 
there  before  them,  clearly  visible  and  just  where  they 
expect  him.  They  are  especially  eager  to  go  forward 
with  a  man  who  never  sounds  a  retreat.  Roosevelt 
was  always  advancing,  always  struggling  to  make  things 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

better,  to  carry  some  much-needed  reform,  and  help 
humanity  to  a  larger  chance,  to  a  fairer  condition,  to 
a  happier  life.  Moreover,  he  looked  always  for  an 
ethical  question.  He  was  at  his  best  when  he  was 
fighting  the  battle  of  right  against  wrong.  He  thought 
soundly  and  wisely  upon  questions  of  expediency  or 
of  political  economy,  but  they  did  not  rouse  him  or 
bring  him  the  absorbed  interest  of  the  eternal  conflict 
between  good  and  evil.  Yet  he  was  never  impractical, 
never  blinded  by  coimsels  of  perfection,  never  seeking 
to  make  the  better  the  enemy  of  the  good.  He  wished 
to  get  the  best,  but  he  would  strive  for  all  that  was 
possible  even  if  it  fell  short  of  the  highest  at  which  he 
aimed.  He  studied  the  lessons  of  history,  and  did  not 
think  the  past  bad  simply  because  it  was  the  past,  or 
the  new  good  solely  because  it  was  new.  He  sought  to 
try  all  questions  on  their  intrinsic  merits,  and  that 
was  why  he  succeeded  in  advancing,  in  making  govern- 
ment and  society  better,  where  others,  who  would  be 
content  with  nothing  less  than  an  abstract  perfection, 
failed.  He  would  never  compromise  a  principle,  but 
he  was  eminently  tolerant  of  honest  differences  of 
opinion.  He  never  hesitated  to  give  generous  credit 
where  credit  seemed  due,  whether  to  friend  or  opponent, 
and  in  this  way  he  gathered  recruits  and  yet  never  lost 
adherents. 

The  criticism  most  commonly  made  upon  Theodore 
Roosevelt  w^as  that  he  was  impulsive  and  impetuous; 
that  he  acted  without  thinking.  He  would  have  been 
the  last  to  claim  infallibility.  His  head  did  not  turn 
when  fame  came  to  him  and  choruses  of  admiration 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

sounded  in  his  ears,  for  he  was  neither  vain  nor  credu- 
lous. He  knew  that  he  made  mistakes,  and  never  hesi- 
tated to  admit  them  to  be  mistakes  and  to  correct  them 
or  put  them  behind  him  when  satisfied  that  they  were 
such.  But  he  wasted  no  time  in  mourning,  explaining, 
or  vainly  regretting  them.  It  is  also  true  that  the 
middle  way  did  not  attract  him.  He  was  apt  to  go  far, 
both  in  praise  and  censure,  although  nobody  could 
analyze  qualities  and  balance  them  justly  in  judging 
men  better  than  he.  He  felt  strongly,  and  as  he  had 
no  concealments  of  any  kind,  he  expressed  himself  in 
like  manner.  But  vehemence  is  not  violence,  nor  is 
earnestness  anger,  which  a  very  wise  man  defined  as  a 
brief  madness.  It  was  all  according  to  his  nature,  just 
as  his  eager  cordiality  in  meeting  men  and  women,  his 
keen  interest  in  other  people's  cares  or  joys,  was  not 
assumed,  as  some  persons  thought  who  did  not  know 
him.  It  was  all  profoundly  natural,  it  was  all  real, 
and  in  that  way  and  in  no  other  was  he  able  to  meet 
and  greet  his  fellow  men.  He  spoke  out  with  the  most 
imrestrained  frankness  at  all  times  and  in  all  companies. 
Not  a  day  passed  in  the  presidency  when  he  was  not 
guilty  of  what  the  trained  diplomatist  would  call  indis- 
cretions. But  the  frankness  had  its  own  reward.  There 
never  was  a  president  whose  confidence  was  so  respected 
or  with  whom  the  barriers  of  honor  which  surround 
private  conversation  were  more  scrupulously  observed. 
At  the  same  time,  when  the  public  interest  required, 
no  man  could  be  more  wisely  reticent.  He  was  apt, 
it  is  true,  to  act  suddenly  and  decisively,  but  it  was 
a  complete  mistake  to  suppose  that  he  therefore  acted 

123 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

without  thought  or  merely  on  a  momentary  impulse. 
When  he  had  made  up  his  mind  he  was  resolute  and 
imchanging,  but  he  made  up  his  mind  only  after  much 
reflection,  and  there  never  was  a  president  in  the  White 
House  who  consulted  not  only  friends  but  political 
opponents  and  men  of  all  kinds  and  conditions  more 
than  Theodore  Roosevelt.  When  he  had  reached  his 
conclusion  he  acted  quickly  and  drove  hard  at  his  object, 
and  this  it  was,  probably,  which  gave  an  impression  that 
he  acted  sometimes  hastily  and  thoughtlessly,  which  was 
a  complete  misapprehension  of  the  man.  His  action 
was  emphatic,  but  emphasis  implies  reflection  not 
thoughtlessness.  One  can  not  even  emphasize  a  word 
without  a  process,  however  slight,  of  mental 
differentiation. 

The  feeling  that  he  was  impetuous  and  impulsive 
was  also  due  to  the  fact  that  in  a  sudden,  seemingly 
unexpected  crisis  he  would  act  with  great  rapidity. 
This  happened  when  he  had  been  for  weeks,  perhaps 
for  months,  considering  what  he  should  do  if  such  a 
crisis  arose.  He  always  believed  that  one  of  the  most 
important  elements  of  success,  whether  in  public  or  in 
private  life,  was  to  know  what  one  meant  to  do  under 
given  circumstances.  If  he  saw  the  possibility  of 
perilous  questions  arising,  it  was  his  practice  to  think 
over  carefully  just  how  he  would  act  under  certain 
contingencies.  Many  of  the  contingencies  never  arose. 
Now  and  then  a  contingency  became  an  actuality,  and 
then  he  was  ready.  He  knew  what  he  meant  to  do,  he 
acted  at  once,  and  some  critics  considered  him 
impetuous,  impulsive,  and,  therefore,  dangerous,  because 

124     . 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

they  did  not  know  that  he  had  thought  the  question  all 
out  beforehand. 

Very  many  people,  powerful  elements  in  the  com- 
mimity,  regarded  him  at  one  time  as  a  dangerous  radical, 
bent  upon  overthrowing  all  the  safeguards  of  society  and 
planning  to  tear  out  the  foundations  of  an  ordered  liberty. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  what  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  trying 
to  do  was  to  strengthen  American  society  and  American 
government  by  demonstrating  to  the  American  people 
that  he  was  aiming  at  a  larger  economic  equality  and 
a  more  generous  industrial  opportunity  for  all  men, 
and  that  any  combination  of  capital  or  of  business,  which 
threatened  the  control  of  the  government  by  the  people 
who  made  it,  was  to  be  curbed  and  resisted,  just  as 
he  would  have  resisted  an  enemy  who  tried  to  take 
possession  of  the  city  of  Washington.  He  had  no 
hostility  to  a  man  because  he  had  been  successful  in 
business  or  because  he  had  accumulated  a  fortune. 
If  the  man  had  been  honestly  successful  and  used  his 
fortune  wisely  and  beneficently,  he  was  regarded  by 
Theodore  Roosevelt  as  a  good  citizen.  The  vulgar 
hatred  of  wealth  found  no  place  in  his  heart.  He  had 
but  one  standard,  one  test,  and  that  was  whether  a 
man,  rich  or  poor,  was  an  honest  man,  a  good  citizen, 
and  a  good  American.  He  tried  men,  whether  they 
were  men  of  **big  business"  or  members  of  a  labor 
union,  by  their  deeds,  and  in  no  other  way.  The  tyranny 
of  anarchy  and  disorder,  such  as  is  now  desolating  Russia, 
was  as  hateful  to  him  as  any  other  tyranny,  whether 
it  came  from  an  autocratic  system  like  that  of  Germany 
or  from  the  misuse  of  organized  capital.    Personally  he 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

believed  in  every  man  earning  his  own  living,  and  he 
earned  money  and  was  glad  to  do  so;  but  he  had  no 
desire  or  taste  for  making  money,  and  he  was  entirely 
indifferent  to  it.  The  simplest  of  men  in  his  own  habits, 
the  only  thing  he  really  would  have  liked  to  have  done 
with  ample  wealth  would  have  been  to  give  freely  to 
the  many  good  objects  which  continually  interested 
him. 

Theodore  Roosevelt's  power,  however,  and  the  main 
source  of  all  his  achievement,  was  not  in  the  offices 
which  he  held,  for  those  offices  were  to  him  only  oppor- 
tunities, but  in  the  extraordinary  hold  which  he  established 
and  retained  over  great  bodies  of  men.  He  had  the 
largest  personal  following  ever  attained  by  any  man 
in  our  history.  I  do  not  mean  by  this  the  following 
which  comes  from  great  political  office  or  from  party 
candidacy.  There  have  been  many  men  who  have  held 
the  highest  offices  in  our  history  by  the  votes  of  their 
fellow  coimtrymen  who  have  never  had  anything  more 
than  a  very  small  personal  following.  By  personal 
following  is  meant  here  that  which  supports  and  sustains 
and  goes  with  a  man  simply  because  he  is  himself;  a 
following  which  does  not  care  whether  their  leader  and 
chief  is  in  office  or  out  of  office,  which  is  with  him  and 
behind  him  because  they,  one  and  all,  believe  in  him 
and  love  him  and  are  ready  to  stand  by  him  for  the  sole 
and  simple  reason  that  they  have  perfect  faith  that  he 
will  lead  them  where  they  wish  and  where  they  ought 
to  go.  This  following  Theodore  Roosevelt  had,  as 
I  have  said,  in  a  larger  degree  than  anyone  in  our  history, 
and  the  fact  that  he  had  it  and  what  he  did  with  it  for 

126 


Theodore    Roosevelt 

the  welfare  of  his  fellow  men  have  given  him  his  great 
place  and  his  lasting  fame. 

This  is  not  mere  assertion;  it  was  demonstrated,  as 
I  have  already  pointed  out,  by  the  vote  of  1912,  and  at 
all  times,  from  the  day  of  his  accession  to  the  presi- 
dency onward,  there  were  millions  of  people  in  this 
country  ready  to  follow  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  vote 
for  him,  or  do  anything  else  that  he  wanted,  whenever 
he  demanded  their  support  or  raised  his  standard.  It 
was  this  great  mass  of  support  among  the  people,  and 
which  probably  was  never  larger  than  in  these  last 
years,  that  gave  him  his  immense  influence  upon  public 
opinion,  and  public  opinion  was  the  weapon  which 
he  used  to  carry  out  all  the  policies  which  he  wished  to 
bring  to  fulfillment  and  to  consolidate  all  the  achieve- 
ments upon  which  he  had  set  his  heart.  This  extra- 
ordinary popular  strength  was  not  given  to  him  solely 
because  the  people  knew  him  to  be  honest  and  brave, 
because  they  were  certain  that  physical  fear  was  an 
emotion  unknown  to  him,  and  that  his  moral  courage 
equaled  the  physical.  It  was  not  merely  because  they 
thoroughly  believed  him  to  be  sincere.  All  this  knowl- 
edge and  belief,  of  course,  went  to  making  his  popular 
leadership  secure;  but  there  was  much  more  in  it  than 
that,  something  that  went  deeper,  basic  elements  which 
were  not  upon  the  surface  which  were  due  to  qualities 
of  temperament  interwoven  with  his  very  being, 
inseparable  from  him  and  yet  subtle  rather  than  obvious 
in  their  effects. 

All  men  admire  courage,  and  that  he  possessed  in 
the  highest  degree.    But  he  had  also  something  larger 

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Theodore    Roosevelt 

and  rarer  than  courage,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation 
of  the  word.  When  an  assassin  shot  him  at  Milwaukee 
he  was  severely  wounded;  how  severely  he  could  not 
tell,  but  it  might  well  have  been  mortal.  He  went  on 
to  the  great  meeting  awaiting  him  and  there,  bleeding, 
suffering,  ignorant  of  his  fate,  but  still  unconquered, 
made  his  speech  and  went  from  the  stage  to  the  hospital. 
What  bore  him  up  was  the  dauntless  spirit  which  could 
rise  victorious  over  pain  and  darkness  and  the  unknown 
and  meet  the  duty  of  the  hour  as  if  all  were  well.  A 
spirit  like  this  awakens  in  all  men  more  than  admira- 
tion, it  kindles  affection  and  appeals  to  every  generous 
impulse. 

Very  different,  but  equally  compelling,  was  another 
quality.  There  is  nothing  in  human  beings  at  once 
so  sane  and  so  sympathetic  as  a  sense  of  humor.  This 
great  gift  the  good  fairies  conferred  upon  Theodore 
Roosevelt  at  his  birth  in  unstinted  measure.  No  man 
ever  had  a  more  abimdant  sense  of  humor  —  joyous, 
irrepressible  humor  —  and  it  never  deserted  him.  Even 
at  the  most  serious  and  even  perilous  moments  if  there 
was  a  gleam  of  humor  anywhere  he  saw  it  and  rejoiced 
and  helped  himself  with  it  over  the  rough  places  and  in 
the  dark  hour.  He  loved  fim,  loved  to  joke  and  chaff, 
and,  what  is  more  imcommon,  greatly  enjoyed  being 
chaffed  himself.  His  ready  smile  and  contagious  laugh 
made  countless  friends  and  saved  him  from  many  an 
enmity.  Even  more  generally  effective  than  his  humor, 
and  yet  allied  to  it,  was  the  universal  knowledge  that 
Roosevelt  had  no  secrets  from  the  American  people. 

Yet  another  quality  —  perhaps   the  most   engag- 

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ing  of  all  —  was  his  homely,  generous  humanity  which 
enabled  him  to  speak  directly  to  the  primitive  instincts 
of  man. 

He  dwelt  with  the  tribes  of  the  marsh  and  moor, 

He  sate  at  the  board  of  kings; 
He  tasted  the  toil  of  the  burdened  slave 

And  the  joy  that  triumph  brings. 
But  whether  to  jungle  or  palace  hall 

Or  white-walled  tent  he  came. 
He  was  brother  to  king  and  soldier  and  slave. 

His  welcome  was  the  same. 

He  was  very  human  and  intensely  American,  and 
this  knit  a  bond  between  him  and  the  American  people 
which  nothing  could  ever  break.  And  then  he  had  yet 
one  more  attraction,  not  so  impressive,  perhaps,  as  the 
others,  but  none  the  less  very  important  and  very 
captivating.  He  never  by  any  chance  bored  the  American 
people.  They  might  laugh  at  him  or  laugh  with  him, 
they  might  like  what  he  said  or  dislike  it,  they  might 
agree  with  him  or  disagree  with  him,  but  they  were 
never  wearied  of  him,  and  he  never  failed  to  interest 
them.  He  was  never  heavy,  laborious,  or  dull.  If  he 
had  made  any  effort  to  be  always  interesting  and  enter- 
taining he  would  have  failed  and  been  tiresome.  He 
was  unfailingly  attractive  because  he  was  always  per- 
fectly natural  and  his  own  unconscious  self.  And  so  all 
these  things  combined  to  give  him  his  hold  upon  the 
American  people,  not  only  upon  their  minds,  but  upon 
their  hearts  and  their  instincts,  which  nothing  could  ever 
weaken,  and  which  made  him  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able, as  he  was  one  of  the  strongest,  characters  that 
the  history  of  popular  government  can  show.    He  was 

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also  —  and  this  is  very  revealing  and  explanatory,  too, 
of  his  vast  popularity  —  a  man  of  ideals.  He  did  not 
expose  them  daily  on  the  roadside  with  language  fluttering 
about  them  like  the  Thibetan  who  ties  his  slip  of  paper  to 
the  prayer  wheel  whirling  in  the  wind.  He  kept  his 
ideals  to  himself  until  the  hour  of  fulfillment  arrived. 
Some  of  them  were  the  dreams  of  boyhood,  from  which 
he  never  departed,  and  which  I  have  seen  him  carry  out 
shyly  and  yet  thoroughly  and  with  intense  personal 
satisfaction. 

He  had  a  touch  of  the  knight  errant  in  his  daily  life, 
although  he  would  never  have  admitted  it;  but  it  was 
there.  It  was  not  visible  in  the  medieval  form  of  shining 
armor  and  dazzling  tournaments,  but  in  the  never-ceasing 
effort  to  help  the  poor  and  the  oppressed,  to  defend  and 
protect  women  and  children,  to  right  the  wronged 
and  succor  the  downtrodden.  Passing  by  on  the  other 
side  was  not  a  mode  of  travel  through  life  ever  possible 
to  him ;  and  yet  he  was  as  far  distant  from  the  professional 
philanthropist  as  could  well  be  imagined,  for  all  he 
tried  to  do  to  help  his  fellow  men  he  regarded  as  part 
of  the  day's  work  to  be  done  and  not  talked  about. 
No  man  ever  prized  sentiment  or  hated  sentimentality 
more  than  he.  He  preached  unceasingly  the  familiar 
morals  which  lie  at  the  bottom  of  both  family  and  public 
life.  The  blood  of  some  ancestral  Scotch  covenanter  or 
of  some  Dutch  reformed  preacher  facing  the  tyranny  of 
Philip  of  Spain  was  in  his  veins,  and  with  his  large 
opportunities  and  his  vast  audiences  he  was  always 
ready  to  appeal  for  justice  and  righteousness.  But  his 
own  personal  ideals  he  never  attempted  to  thrust  upon 

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the  world  until  the  day  came  when  they  were  to  be 
translated  into  realities  of  action. 

When  the  future  historian  traces  Theodore  Roose- 
velt's extraordinary  career  he  will  find  these  embodied 
ideals  planted  like  milestones  along  the  road  over  which 
he  marched.  They  never  left  him.  His  ideal  of  public 
service  was  to  be  found  in  his  life,  and  as  his  life  drew 
to  its  close  he  had  to  meet  his  ideal  of  sacrifice  face  to 
face.  All  his  sons  went  from  him  to  the  war,  and  one 
was  killed  upon  the  field  of  honor.  Of  all  the  ideals 
that  lift  men  up,  the  hardest  to  fulfill  is  the  ideal  of 
sacrifice.  Theodore  Roosevelt  met  it  as  he  had  all 
others  and  fulfilled  it  to  the  last  jot  of  its  terrible 
demands.  His  country  asked  the  sacrifice  and  he  gave 
it  with  solemn  pride  and  uncomplaining  lips. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  speak  of  his  private  life, 
but  within  that  sacred  circle  no  man  was  ever  more 
blessed  in  the  utter  devotion  of  a  noble  wife  and  the 
passionate  love  of  his  children.  The  absolute  purity 
and  beauty  of  his  family  life  tell  us  why  the  pride  and 
interest  which  his  fellow  countrymen  felt  in  him  were 
always  touched  with  the  warm  light  of  love.  In  the 
home  so  dear  to  him,  in  his  sleep,  death  came,  and  — 

So  Valiant-for-Truth  passed  over  and  all  the  trumpets  sounded  for 
him  on  the  other  side. 


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